PHILADELPHIA (TAUT) — Nearly two dozen people have been displaced after their building caught fire. The fire occurred in the 4400 block of North Broad Street in Hunting Park.
The blaze prompted authorities to divert traffic from this section of Broad Street for several hours. Residents say that although no one was hurt, they lost everything.
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Clouds of black smoke and flames visible in the distance blocked traffic and distracted drivers on the busy North Broad Street while leaving dozens of residents homeless.
“It’s just very shocking. It’s a bit nervous because, like I said, I was there a few minutes before all of this happened,” one resident said.
Wednesday afternoon’s fire started in this three-story apartment building on North Broad and Roosevelt Boulevard, then spread to at least three homes.
A woman who asked not to be identified says that’s where she lived with her two daughters.
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“It hurts. It’s not my first loss but I’m recovering from it a bit. I have two youngsters so losing something like that is just very detrimental,” she said “We lost furniture, I think we lost a TV or two, clothes, of course, their toys but other than that I haven’t done a full search of what was destroyed yet. But there is a lot of water in my apartment.
It took about 40 minutes to bring the fire under control. Nearly 75 firefighters, medics, chiefs and support personnel were involved in the firefight. A firefighter has been burned on the hand but is expected to be fine.
The residents just want to know what happened.
“Personally, I see a lot of people going in and out of this house, but they don’t really give us any information about what’s going on. I who live there should be able to know something,” said one resident.
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No resident was injured. The fire marshal is trying to find out what caused this fire.
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