UPDATED: 4:30 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities are investigating a four-alarm fire that injured one person in the Wissinoming section of the city.
The fire broke out around 10 a.m. Monday at a trucking company warehouse at Van Kirk and Tacony streets. About 140 firefighters on the scene had the fire contained by 11:20 a.m.
First Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said one employee of the trucking company was injured, and he is now in stable condition.
Neighbors along Homestead Street, near the warehouse, said they heard a series of terrifying booms that shook the block just before 10 a.m.
Neighbors could see plumes of smoke rising from the site of a warehouse fire on Monday in Northeast Philadelphia.Shara Dae Howard/KYW Newsradio
Firefighters work on a warehouse fire in Northeast Philadelphia.Shara Dae Howard/KYW Newsradio
"Heard a bunch of booms and just thought they were moving trucks around," said Michelle lesario. "Next thing you know, we heard the Fire Department coming, and the place was on fire."
Crystal Smick says the black smoke was floating right over their houses.
"When I came out, I saw the black smoke. Came down and saw all the flames and this entire building was up in smoke," she said.
Murphy said the Fire Department took every precaution to keep neighbors safe.
"We brought our hazmat task force out to do air monitoring, and the air is clear now," Murphy said.
The thick, black smoke caused traffic delays in the area, and there were concerns about air quality. The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management issued a shelter-in-place order as a safety precaution, but they lifted it an hour later.
Out of an abundance of caution, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health sent inspectors to assess air quality and the potential for any threat. They say, at this time, no specific hazardous substances have been identified.
