PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Four people, including two firefighters, were injured in a row home fire in East Germantown early Tuesday morning.
Firefighters were called to a home at High and Ross streets around 6:45 a.m.
While crews were inside, the first floor collapsed. One firefighter was hospitalized and placed in stable condition. Another firefighter was treated on the scene for a minor injury.
At least two occupants were rescued from inside the home and taken to the hospital. One is in critical condition. The other is stable.
The fire spread to the home next door and ripped through the first and second stories.
About 100 firefighters, medics and support units arrived to assist. The fire was extinguished just before 8 a.m.
Cynthia, who lives across the street, was woken up by the flames.
“We were sleeping. At 6:50 in the morning, we hear screaming, like horror scream. We come out and look out the window cause we’re nosy and we just see all these flames,” she said.
Emergency responder Don said other houses were damaged.
“Those two are the ones that got the most [damage], but the direct exposures, they both have heavy smoke damage,” he said. “To hear a second-alarm fire on a row home … this thing was cooking.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.