6 Hospitalized Following Fire At Senior Living Center In Camden County
PENNSAUKEN, NJ (CBS) -- Six people suffered smoke inhalation when fire erupted this morning in a senior living facility in South Jersey.
It was just before 7:30 in the morning when Bob Parry, a resident at the Bentley Senior Living Facility in Pennsauken, saw and smelled smoke.
"You could see it, when they opened up the doors you could see it. That's when the fire engines, the were all here and then they went around to the back."
The blaze was confined to one unit in the assisted living section.
Pennsauken fire chief Joe Palumbo says the challenge was quickly evacuating the 200 people who live here.
"It was a valiant effort from the staff and the initial police officers and the initial firefighters that arrived to get them secured, out of the building and accounted for. It's a pretty taxing effort in the first few minutes of a working fire."
Residents returned after the smoke was cleared. Palumbo says the six people who suffered smoke inhalation are all expected to recover.