Thursday, March 28

The tragic Philadelphia fire could have been started by a minor


(CNN) — Investigators are working to determine the cause of a deadly fire in Philadelphia that killed 12 people on Wednesday.

According to Jane Roh, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia district attorney’s office, an investigation is under way to see whether a child under the age of 5 who was playing with a lighter under a tree could start the fire.

They are also being examined other possible causesRoh said, and no charges are currently scheduled to be brought against anyone in connection with the fire.

Firefighters responded to the flames around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday at a three-story townhouse that had been legally divided into two apartments, authorities said. Firefighters found a “strong fire” in the kitchen area at the front of the building’s second floor, according to authorities.

There was “nothing to stop the fire from progressing,” said Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy, who told reporters during a news conference Thursday that city police and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Weapons Philadelphia Fire and Explosives Agency (ATF) were assisting with the investigation.

“It’s a very traumatic scene, it’s a very complex investigation,” said Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Merrigan of the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s office. “It’s something that would challenge us if we had to do it on our own.”

The house is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) a municipal agency that rents houses to low-income people.

Three sisters and nine of their children died from the fire, according to relatives.

Rosalee McDonald, 33; Virginia Thomas, 30, and Quinsha White, 18, died, according to their cousins ​​Frank and Pamela McDonald. Six of Rosalee McDonald’s children and three of Thomas’s children also died in the fire. The ages of their children have not been provided.

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Thomas’ 5-year-old son survived, his cousin told CNN.

A GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

Philadelphia fire

Philadelphia firefighters work at the scene of a deadly townhouse fire Wednesday in the Fairmount neighborhood.

Victims are remembered while others describe their escape

The women who died were very close and had lived together in the Department since they were teenagers, his family said.

“They were both good people, good mothers and very family oriented,” Frank McDonald told CNN. “Rosalee was one of the best people you could meet. She was very supportive, they both did. They came to help me with my business when I opened it.”
Qaadira Purifoy dijo a CNN affiliate KYW-TV, that many of those who died were family members.

“Losing the sisters, I never thought this would happen,” Purifoy said. “Sisters, nieces and nephews”.

One of the apartments was on the second and third floors, and the other on the first. Debra Jackson’s sister was able to escape from the first floor of the home with three of her children, she told KYW.

“Two of her children were burned, she probably only had smoke inhalation. But thank God they are alive,” Jackson said. “My heart goes out to the family that lost their entire family.”

The Philadelphia school district said Wednesday it was working with City Council President Darrell Clarke to create a relief fund for affected families.

Some of the children who died were students in the city’s schools, the district said, without saying how many. The district said it has also made counseling and support services available to grieving students.

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Agencies question operation of smoke detectors

The house was legally divided in two departments since the 1950s and had not committed any violations, according to a spokesman for the Philadelphia Department of Licensing and Inspections.

Murphy, the fire department official, initially told reporters that there were four smoke detectors in the building, “and none of them worked.”

Murphy later indicated that Philadelphia Housing Authority records show that at least six battery-operated smoke detectors had been installed there between 2019 and 2020.

However, Dinesh Indala, the PHA’s senior executive vice president of operations, said the agency had different information about the detectors.

Unit A of the department had seven smoke detectors and three carbon monoxide detectors on its last inspection, Indala said Thursday. Unit B had six working smoke detectors and three carbon monoxide detectors at its last inspection in May 2021, Indala said.

Two batteries and two smoke detectors were replaced in 2021, Indala said. The smoke detectors were also replaced in unit B in an inspection in September 2019, according to Indala.

“When we conducted our last inspection, the smoke detectors were actually working,” said Jeremiah, the CEO of the PHA. “If the fire marshal determined, as a result of this fire, that they were not, in fact, working or that they were not, in fact, operational, it would be that they were tampered with or that the batteries were removed in some way. units and removed the batteries. “

Defective smoke detectors are treated as emergencies and replaced within 24 hours if requested, Indala said, and the authority conducts inspections annually.

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“Every time we come to do an inspection, as is clear from the last one, we have had to change two batteries and replace the smoke detectors. And these are 10-year-old smoke detectors, so it is something that we find quite a lot. frequently at our properties, “Indala said.

– Amir Vera, Jason Hanna, Kelly McCleary, Kristina Sgueglia, Rob Frehse and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.


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