Thirteen people are dead including seven children after a fire tore through a duplex apartment inside a Philadelphia Housing Authority building where 18 people were living on Wednesday morning.
The blaze was first reported at 6.38am at 860 North 23rd Street in the Fairmount neighborhood of the city, where 26 people were living across two apartments on three floors.
Eighteen people occupied the second and third floor duplex apartment, and eight live on the first floor. The fire began on the second floor then spread upwards, tearing through the top of the building.
By the time firefighters could get inside around 50 minutes later, thirteen of the 18 in the second and third floor apartment had died. Firefighters rescued two survivors, one of whom was a child and is now in the hospital. The eight residents of the first floor apartment were able to escape unharmed.
Fire chiefs fear they may recover more bodies inside the homes as they work through the debris.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. There were four smoke detectors across the two apartments but none sounded the alarm on Wednesday.
Philadelphia Housing Authority says all were inspected in May and were working.
Mayor Jim Kenney choked on tears as he spoke at the scene. He called it 'without a doubt one of the most tragic days in the city's history.' 'Please keep all these folks and these children in your prayers. Losing so many kids is devastating. Keep these babies in your prayers,' he said.
Fire chiefs struggled to put into words the horror of the blaze while giving an update on Wednesday morning.
'I've been around for 35 years now and this is probably one of the worst fires I've ever been to. I don't have the words for how we're feeling right now,' Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said.
He added that more bodies may be discovered as fire companies work through the damage.
'That number is dynamic bc there's still an ongoing recovery effort inside. That number sits right now at 13. We also had eight people self evacuate.
'As of right now, the fire marshal along with the ATF are in the process of doing a thorough investigation of this terrible event.'
Neighbors watched in horror on Wednesday as firefighters continued to work through the scene. 'I knew some of those kids -- I used to see them playing on the corner,' said Dannie McGuire, 34, fighting back tears as she and Martin Burgert, 35, stood in the doorway of a home around the corner.
'They had lived there for a decade, she said, 'and some of those kids have lived here as long as us.'
'I can’t picture how more people couldn’t get out -- jumping out a window,' she said.
The building was an old rowhome that had been converted into two different apartments.
According to Philadelphia Housing Authority CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah, the building was last inspected in May and all of the smoke detectors were working.
'This unimaginable loss of life has shaken all of us at PHA.
'It is too early for us to say more. The property was last inspected in May 2021, and all the smoke detectors were operating properly at that time,' Jeremiah said.