Rowhome fire in Folcroft, Pennsylvania, displaces 7 families, impacts 7 homes
A three-alarm fire in Folcroft, Delaware County, has left at least seven families displaced Sunday afternoon, fire officials said.
Crews responded to the fire Sunday afternoon and arrived to find heavy smoke and seven rowhomes' back decks engulfed in flames, said Folcroft Fire Company Chief Angelo Zangare.
Zangare said there were likely over 125 firefighters responding to the blaze, which impacted seven rowhomes. There were no injuries reported.
Diweil Judue was home Sunday afternoon watching TV when he heard a loud sound, looked out back, and saw flames. He said in less than five minutes, his family was out of the home.
"I told my mom, come out," Judue said. "Drop everything, just get ... whatever you can get, just get, let's go. And that's what we did."
The American Red Cross is assisting the displaced families.
"From where I'm seeing, I see water pooling from the roof coming down so I guess I lost everything," Judue said.
Another neighbor, Dave Strickler, said around 3 p.m., he heard something explode twice followed by howling and yelling from next-door neighbors.
Strickler said he didn't know if it was gunfire or not until he looked out the back deck and saw it had ignited. He said he ran outside and saw a giant plume of smoke and neighbors pouring out onto their lawns.
"Within 10 minutes, everything had gone up [in flames]. It was ... a big mess," Strickler said. "If you look into the homes, everything is blackened, smoke-damaged, they busted all the windows out. The basement is probably a swimming pool at this point. They just dumped gallons of water to make sure that it didn't spread again."
"I just was leaving off of work, and my husband called me and said that the house was on fire," Italia Rudisill said. "It's been pretty devastating."
Folcroft Assistant Fire Chief Robert Thompson said the fire spread between a row of back decks and, eventually, into the homes. Eleven adults and 10 children now have to find somewhere else to live.
"It's just sad to happen around Christmas, to all to the people," Thompson said. "Folcroft is a very generous community."
That generosity was on full display at the Folcroft Community Center, where donations, including clothes and diapers, have been pouring in for the victims.
"I gave my service here for 35 years being a fireman and that's what we do. We help people," Dennis Parisano from Folcroft said after he dropped off food. "Any time there's something goes wrong, I'll be there to help."
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Folcroft Fire Company.