PHILADELPHIA – At least 13 people were killed in an apartment building fire Wednesday morning in what city officials called a "tremendous loss of life."
Seven children were among those killed, Philadelphia Fire Department First Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said in a news conference. Eight people were able to escape the building, and two people were taken to a hospital, Murphy said.
The building was a Philadelphia Housing Authority property, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation, Murphy said. The fire occurred on North 23rd Street, according to the Philadelphia Fire Department. The building was a house that had been converted into two apartments, Officer Miguel Torres of the Philadelphia Police Department told USA TODAY.
"I've been around for 35 years now, and this is probably one of the worst fires I've ever been to," Murphy said.
Firefighters responded at about 6:40 a.m. and found "heavy fire" on the second story of a three-floor rowhouse, the Philadelphia Fire Department said in a tweet. It took about 50 minutes to control the blaze, the department said.
Rebecca Miller, who lives nearby, stepped outside around 7 a.m. and could see smoke and fire trucks. She said she also heard what "sounded like an adult woman screaming."
Smoke detectors in the building were battery-operated with 10-year lithium batteries, but "none of them operated," Murphy said.
The building was last inspected in May 2021, and the smoke detectors were working properly then, Philadelphia Housing Authority President and CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah said in a statement posted to Facebook.
"This unimaginable loss of life has shaken all of us at PHA. It is too early for us to say more," Jeremiah said.
At least 18 people were living in the upper apartment, which included the third floor and part of the second, and eight people were living in the lower unit, which included the first floor and the other part of the second, Murphy said. The deputy fire commissioner said he could not say whether that was more than what would be allowed but called it a "tremendous amount of people to be living in a duplex."
Murphy said the fire marshal would investigate the cause of the fire. Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene. Murphy said that the fire was "not necessarily considered suspicious" but that the investigation would be "all hands on deck."
"We plan on making sure that this tremendous loss of life did not happen in vain," he said.
Early Wednesday, a few people in the Fairmount neighborhood gathered on a nearby corner and were left shocked, angry and sad.
"I still can’t believe the destruction and loss of life," said Avery McDonald, a nursing student at Temple University. "I sort of felt helpless, but I don’t know what could have been done to save those people."
Longtime Fairmount resident Ronald Umbrey recalled seeing children play around the residence. He said people moved in and out fairly often, and the residence "just didn’t look safe to me."
"I lived here for 25 years and never seen such a fire. I didn’t know anyone who lived there personally, but anytime someone perished in a fire, it had to bad," Umbrey said.
Aerial footage from WPVI-TV showed the top two floors of the building near the corner of an intersection burned out and blackened near the windows.
Jasmine Stokes said she heard a commotion in the morning, and a neighbor told her what happened later.
"That was a big place, and it’s a shame that children lost their lives," Stokes said. "I wonder if it could have been prevented somehow."
Mayor Jim Kenney, whose father was a firefighter, called the blaze "one of the most tragic days in our city's history."
"Losing so many kids is just devastating."
