Fire Breaks Out At The Fairmount Park Welcome Center
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Fire broke out in the basement of the landmark "spaceship" building at 16th and JFK in Center City overnight.
The odor of smoke hanging around, shards of broken glass scattered outside of the Fairmount Park Welcome Center in Love Park, commonly known as the spaceship because of its quirky round design.
The alarm system went off at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and Captain William Dixon says the fire started in the basement and 40 firefighters took care of business.
"Excellent job in getting in there and knocking down the fire as quickly as possible. Again the sprinklers aided in extinguishing the fire and placed it under control relatively in a short period of time."
To ventilate and make sure the fire didn't spread, Dixon says they had to smash a lot of the windows which are part of this building's memorable design.
The fire was under control within a half hour says Dixon.
"It has been determined to be in the basement area," says Dixon. "The cause of it is still unknown at this time. There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians."
This building goes back to 1960, five years before Love Park was completed.
City officials had been planning a renovation project, which included a restaurant, set to begin next spring.