Philadelphia house explosion sparks massive fire
A Philadelphia row house explosion sparked a massive fire Thursday in an incident that left at least one person dead and another trapped, reports said.
First responders were called to South 8th and Reed streets at around 11:35 a.m. for a report of an explosion and building fire.
When firefighters arrived on scene they found a home fully collapsed and two others with “significant structural damage” and a “heavy volume of fire,” Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters at the scene.
Smoke-eaters immediately “mounted an aggressive interior attack and search for life in an attempt to rescue anybody who might be inside,” Thiel said, adding, “We are still not sure what the occupancy status is of the fully collapsed building.”
Thiel said that firefighters “went into a fully collapsed building that was on fire to try to rescue somebody.”
According to NBC News, Thiel later said: “They actually were able to locate someone, but that individual was trapped under so much debris that they were not able to extricate them.”
Officials evacuated adjacent buildings and quickly worked to shut off the gas to the area as more than 120 members of the fire department battled the blaze.
“This will be an extremely risky and dangerous operation…to perform a thorough search and hopefully rescue how many people might be inside,” said Thiel.
The commissioner continued: “Our first priority is to try and get in there and hopefully find and rescue their neighbors.”
Philadelphia’s acting police commissioner Christine Coulter said that the police department will be aiding in the rescue efforts and using drones to assist.
Shortly after the fiery incident, one witness told Action News that “it looks like a bomb exploded.”
Local resident Lisa Maria Cerra told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the explosion caused her house to shake so much that her son was tossed out of bed.
Cerra said that she and others tried to help someone trapped under debris just as firefighters made their way onto the scene.
“We saw her feet…and then they couldn’t get to her,” Cerra told the news outlet.
Meanwhile, the three-alarm fire was brought under control just before 3 p.m., officials said.