PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A woman is dead and two firefighters are injured after a fire tore through her Manayunk rowhome on Wednesday.
Neighbors were shocked and saddened by the tragedy that claimed the life of a woman who lived inside the home on Fleming Street near Lyceum Avenue.
Firefighters got the call just before 9 a.m. When they arrived at the scene, Executive Fire Chief Daniel McCarty said they encountered heavy flames coming from throughout the house.
“Getting off the truck, they heard screaming,” he said. “There were people trapped inside. Four made it out safely. One person succumbed to injuries inside the fire dwelling.”
Next door neighbor Scott Bigos’ home was also heavily damaged. “I woke up to my neighbors screaming, ‘Call 911,’” he recalled. “ So much smoke and so much flames. I saw the roof was on fire, so I grabbed my phone and ran outside totally barefoot. My neighbors gave me shoes.”
Bigos said it all happened so fast and that the rowhome was consumed within minutes. “[It] mainly hit my next door neighbors pretty hard. They were just trying to take care of each other. It was a much more dramatic scene over there,” he said, adding the community is coming together to help the family. The Red Cross is also providing assistance.
Two firefighters were hurt battling the flames. Both were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition.
Officials said there were no working smoke detectors in the home at the time. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
