Engine 2 orignally dispatched for rubbish arrived to find a a 1 city block square building complex with buildings of 5, 3 and 2 story fully invovled. Requested the box and 2 Alarm. All compaines in service with heaviest waterlines. A total of 5 Alarms were struck and fire spread to the exposure dwellings across the street and in the neighborhood to wind swept embers. Some evacuations were made due to explosions inside the building. A collapsed was occurred and several firefighters became trapped. Two firefighter were killed in the collapse. Three other firefighters were transported to the hospital. At least two firefighter were transported to the hospital with unknown injuries.
Two firefighters were killed and two others seriously injured today battling a raging 5-alarm fire that ripped through an aging warehouse in Philadelphia's Kensington section and spread to a nearby structures.
The firefighters were trapped in a collapse at a furniture store where a fire broke out, sparked by embers from the warehouse at East York and Jasper Streets.
The firefighters who died were assigned to Ladder 10, officials said.
Video: Philadelphia Firefighters Die In Blaze: MyFoxPHILLY.com
New Details On Two Fallen Philadelphia Firefighters: MyFoxPHILLY.com
Documents show the Thomas Buck Hosiery Factory operated in East Kensington until the mid 1970s, when another fire damaged the building.
The fire erupted at a time when the entire region is under a red flag warning because conditions - high winds, low humidity and dry ground cover - are ripe for wild fires.
An investigation into the cause of the warehouse blaze is just getting started.
(The usual disclaimers: I am not a journalist; This is a blog that expresses an outlook and is not conclusive in any shape or manner.)
