West Philadelphia Building Coated In Ice After Fire In Bone-Chilling Temps
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Flames ripped through a commercial building in West Philadelphia Monday morning.
The two-alarm fire broke out around 4 a.m. inside a three-story building along the 200 block of South 52nd Street near Locust Street.
Fire crews arrived to find flames shooting from the third floor of the building, which houses a pharmacy and several doctors' offices. The top floor, however, appeared to be vacant, according to fire officials.
The fire was placed under control at about 6:30 a.m.
As a result of the temperature being 3 degrees, with a wind chill of 16 below zero, the building was left coated in icicles.
It was so cold that icicles hung from the end of the firefighters' hoses and even left some of the firefighters' jacket partially frozen.
Matthew Jefferson says, "I've been around here for 52 years... I've never seen anything like that in my life."
Neighboring homes were evacuated and left without power as a result of the blaze.
Battalion Chief Michael Richey says, "As soon as the water stops flowing it becomes ice."
Six people were assisted by the American Red Cross.
There were no injuries reported.
It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the fire.
