Fire storm in PA
Top picture from Sharon Gekoski-Kimmel/Inquirer. Bottom image is from the Inquirer and is off the FaceBook page of Justin Sloan.
An 8-alarm fire started in a building under construction at the Riverwalk at Millenium apartments along the Schuylkill River near Fayette Street in Conshohocken, PA. It was the fifth building to be constructed in the complex. The blaze spread to two of the already occupied large apartment buildings leaving about 200 people homeless. The fire started around 4:30 PM on Wednesday and burned well into the night.
A firefighter and a resident suffered minor injuries.
From WCAU-TV
FireGeezer has been on top of the fire since shortly after it began
WPVI-TV looks at how quickly the fire spread
Excerpts from Philadelphia Inquirer:
The fire broke out at 4:30 p.m. at the RiverWalk at Millennium complex on the Schuykill. The high-end development, a catalyst in the revival of the once-blighted Conshohocken riverfront, was built by developer Brian O’Neill.
O’Neill was on the scene of the fire, handing out bottles of water to firefighters.
Firefighters called the emergency an “unusually large fire,” and one of the largest seen in the county in recent years.
The original fire spread to another apartment building with “many, many senior citizens,” said Tom Sullivan, the public safety director for Montgomery County. He said everyone had been evacuated.
Because the buildings border the river and railroad track, “access is challenged,” Sullivan said. “They’re working through it, and have been cutting down fencing.”
He said the first building to go up in flames did not have completed fire protection.
Sullivan said the borough has a limited water supply, which it is trying to overcome with supplies from other water companies and lots of hose. “They’re making very good progress,” he said.
He noted that the fire broke out in what used to be an industrial area with limited firefighting infrastructure.
Ten fire companies from as far away as North Penn and Flourtown responded to the call
Firefighters were able to confine the fire in the second apartment building to the upper floors and fought to keep water on an office building on the other side of the destroyed property.
Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, who could see the smoke from the fire from his home in Roxborough, said this type of riverfront fire was particularly difficult to tackle.
The Philadelphia Fire Department was not called to the scene.
Ayers said that in Philadelphia, water mains deadend at the river and fire hydrants at waterfront locations tend to have lower water pressure. “It’s a very challenging firefighting moment,” Ayers said. “They’re up against the size of the fire…and getting water resources together to get in front of the fire.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYYnS9eJAEY&hl=en&fs=1]
This one appears to be fairly early on in the fire
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzm6MVVDQPM&hl=en&fs=1]
At :27 there is a collapse of one of the buildings
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejkxvVVyjOY&hl=en&fs=1][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Ywdluz5X0&hl=en&fs=1]
