PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man was killed in a row home fire in Southwest Philadelphia early Wednesday morning.
It was around 1:40 a.m. when firefighters were called to go to 54th and Regent streets in the Kingsessing neighborhood for a fire that broke out in a row home in the middle of the block.
[Firefighters] were met by four occupants of the dwelling outside who reported there was one occupant remaining inside,” said Anthony Bompadre, chief fire marshal of the Philadelphia Fire Department.
Crews went in and found the man in a second-floor back bedroom, Bompadre said. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Stanley Redden lives a few doors down. He said the victim and his family have been here for years.
“They’ve been on the block. They’re pretty cool neighbors. I didn’t really see nothing wrong with them. They were just good people. Sorry this happened to them. Sorry for their loss.”
He slept through the sirens and the flashing lights outside on the block, and his family told him what happened when he got up.
“I was like, oh man, I’m sorry that happened. I didn’t even know. They told me fire trucks were here and in the back and everywhere and they had to break into the house to get him out. I’m like it’s so close to our house. So I was really shocked.”
No one else was hurt. It took less than half an hour to get the fire under control.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. It was not immediately clear to officials if there were working smoke detectors in the home. Redden said this made him think about his family’s safety.