4-Alarm Fire Engulfs Warehouse In Kensington; 3 Injured
By Jan Carabeo, Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Crews battled a four-alarm fire in the Kensington section of Philadelphia that broke out in a warehouse early this morning, injuring three people.
The fire began about 2:30am at a vacant warehouse at American and York Streets. The blaze then spread to a neighboring paper storage company.
The fire was placed under control just after 4 a.m., but heavy smoke lingered in the area long beyond then.
"We went to 4-alarms, which is about 33 pieces of apparatus, 120 firefighters," Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer said.
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Officials say a 25-year-old man has been taken to Temple Hospital with severe burns to the majority of his body. He is said to be conscious and alert.
"We believe that the civilian injury, the person was coming out of the vacant building," Sawyer says. "The person was on fire when they came out."
Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries.
The warehouse where the fire started was completely destroyed and there was heavy damage to the paper company. The fire also spread to a nearby furniture business, but that only sustained minor exterior damage.
Sawyer says crews attacked the fire from the outside:
"When you have an older building and a heavy fire load, you have a greater chance of collapse. And once you have that collapse, anything could happen. So one of the things we did do was establish a collapse zone early."
SEPTA bus routes 39 and 57 were being detoured around the area where the fire occurred. Two Philadelphia schools -- the John Welsh and McKinley elementary schools -- were forced to close for the day because of smoke from the fire.
Fire officials remain on the scene as an investigation into the cause of the blaze continues.
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