Warehouse Fire Forces Evacuations
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia fire marshal is investigating a three-alarm blaze that gutted a warehouse and forced the evacuation of six families.
The smoky fire broke out just after 2:30 on Sunday afternoon in an empty warehouse on North Howard Street, in the middle of a rapidly gentrifying area that straddles Northern Liberties and Fishtown.
Deputy Chief Joe McGraw said it took fire fighters almost an hour-and-a-half to get the blaze under control:
"It's a tight area down here. The back street's tight. As you can see we have wires so that limits our ability to get apparatus up in the exact location that we want, so to get a master stream going, we have to take everything by hand so it's a labor intense operation. That's why we had three alarms here."
McGraw said there was just one injury. One of the evacuated residents fell leaving his house and broke his nose.
Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio.
(Photo by KYW's Pat Loeb)
