PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three people, including a child, were hurt and several others had to be rescued when fire ripped through a North Philadelphia row home early Thursday morning.
The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at a corner three-story row home on West Erie Avenue and Sydenham Street in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood.
“I was upstairs on the third floor helping my folks clean up. We smelled smoke,” Tracey Knighten said to reporters after being released from the hospital. “We thought it was a lamp; we unplugged the lamp in the hallway, realized there was more smoke, so I ran down all the steps to get downstairs to open the door.”
Knighten said flames were by the back door, and smoke quickly filled the home. He covered his face as he ran through the house. He suffered burns to his back, shoulder and hands.
He said the other two people who were taken to the hospital were his 8-year-old godson and the child’s mother, who is his friend. They are expected to be OK.
Four others who live in the house were on the upper floors, and they went to the windows to get air.
“They were trying to breathe. The smoke literally came from the back door throughout the whole house,” Knighten said.
Firefighters got them and their dog out of the house, and got the situation under control in about 15 minutes. The Red Cross is helping the displaced family.
Knighten said they had working smoke alarms in the house. The Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office and ATF are investigating the cause of the fire.
