8/01/07

Multiple Alarm Fire in Downtown Apartment Building

What started as a busy day for the PFD, ended after an exhaustive battle against a raging apartment building fire at 175 Prospect St in downtown Phoenixville. Members at Station 65 had returned from a busy morning which included a fire alarm, a disaster drill at the Golden Living Center, and a cardiac arrest when the crew began to hear the faint beeping of a nearby smoke detector. Upon looking out the windows at the back of the station office, members noticed smoke coming from the doorway of the building directly to the rear of the station with people evacuating and a strong odor smoke in the air.

Battalion 65 immediately notified the CCFB at 11:34AM and requested a dispatch for a building fire to the rear of Station 65 in the 100 block of Prospect Street. Ladder and Battalion 65 pulled around the block and found smoke showing from a two and three-story multiple occupancy apartment building. Battlion 65 established command and requested the Working Fire Dispatch. The ladder crew made entry, conducted a primary search and found fire involving a kitchen in one of the units. Engine 66 and Engine 67 arrived next and crews began to stretch lines into the building. The fire in the kitchen was knocked down but as crews began to open up, it was evident that there was significant extension in the walls and ceiling.
Crews from Valley Forge stretched additional lines and Tower 61 ventilated the roof and covered the Bridge St side of the large building. Conditions began to deteriorate and a 2nd Alarm was requested. As additional resources arrived and went to work, conditions continued to worsen and a 3rd Alarm was requested with additional EMS units to treat exhausted firefighters who were operating in high heat and humidity. After an aggressive interior attack failed to bring the rapidly spreading fire under control, command ordered the building evacuated and all companies prepared for defensive heavy duty water operations.

Shortly after the building was evacuated and all firefighters were accounted for, heavy fire consumed the second and third floors and numerous master stream devices were directed into the building and onto nearby exposures. The bulk of the fire was darkened down within 15 minutes of master stream operations and mutual aid companies were able to cut off the spread of fire down a group of 6 three story row dwellings. The fire was placed under control several hours after initial units arrived onscene and crews worked into the early evening wetting down the building while the fire marshal's worked to determine the cause and origin. Numerous fire companies operated from several different counties and as many as 45 pieces of apparatus were onscene with over 100 firefighters working.

Three firefighters were transported to Phoenixville Hospital during this fire with none life threatening injuries and all were treated and released several hours later. The Red Cross provided assistance with finding housing for the 25 displaced residents and no civilian injuries were reported.
Final units cleared the scene sometime after 7PM Wednesday evening and the cause is still under investigation.

You can view a video of the fire by clicking the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy_WJhhtPnE