Arson Suspected in Logan Rowhome Fire
The Philadelphia fire marshal is investigating a one-alarm blaze at a Logan rowhome which is believed to be arson. No one was injured, and police were on the trail of a suspect.
KYW's Al Novack reports that a female suspect whom witnesses allege torched the home near 21st and Furley Streets around 3:30am may soon be in the hands of Northwest Detectives.
Police say they know the woman's identity and believe they located her at Chestnut Hill Hospital where she went under an assumed name for treatment of an unspecified injury.
An investigator says that once she is released from the hospital she will undergo questioning in connection with the one-alarm blaze that damaged nearly a dozen homes.
Witnesses have told police and fire investigators that a woman allegedly took a can of gasoline tossed it onto the porch of a home and then ignited it. It took firefighters nearly 45 minutes to control the fire.
Officials say flames traveled from porch to porch and from rooftop to rooftop before being brought under control.
KYW's Kim Glovas spoke with some neighbors who believe the fire was intentionally set. Others say they saw a woman near the area throw flammable liquid onto the porch of the row home just before the fire started.
Monica Rodriquez lives two doors away:
"I smelled smoke and then I thought somebody was cooking and left something on the stove or something. So I came downstairs and looked, but I didn't see anything and I still smelled smoke, and I looked outside and saw my neighbor's porch engulfed in flames."
She quickly got her two children and her brother out of the house.
