PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The site of Friday’s deadly medical jet crash in Northeast Philadelphia is still closed off as investigators work to find the cause. Seven people were killed, and two dozen others were injured. And now there are concerns about the possibility of exposure to toxins for neighbors and first responders.
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The debris has been cleared, and the neighborhood is slowly going back to normal, but below the surface, a lot of people who live in the area across Cottman Avenue from the Roosevelt Mall are still feeling anxious since the crash.
The neighborhood comprises several streets lined with row homes, which are still cordoned off to everyone except for residents—who must still show their identification to get into their houses.
More than 300 homes in the area sustained some level of damage. When neighbors could first return to their homes, they were without electrical and gas service—no hot water; no heat at all—for a couple of days, but that has since been restored.
The concern now is—well, the smell.
“The smell is really bad right now. Smells like gas,” said Sheridan Connie, who lives on Rupert Street.
His home sustained only minor damage, but he wonders now about what his body was exposed to in the days after the crash.
And it’s not just the residents. Roosevelt Poplar, president of the Federal Order of Police, is talking to members of his union, some of whom have been concerned about eye irritation and trouble breathing.
“Four hundred came to this area on Friday night,” he said. “And, you know, there's been many others since then.”
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So he's asking first responders to fill out an injury report, stating that they had contact with the crash scene, because—as of right now—we really don't know what type of contamination or toxins might have been out there, besides the jet fuel.
“Out of caution, we want them to make sure that it's documented,” Poplar said.
He says that union is the first to do this, and he hopes other first-responder unions will do the same.
