Fire claims lives in crowded Philadelphia row house

Police reported seven children were among at least 13 people who died in Wednesday’s blaze, the highest death toll in a single fire in the city in at least a century. It ignited in a row house before 6:30 a.m. in a residential area of the city’s Fairmount neighborhood, northwest of downtown and home to the Philadelphia Museum. A fire official reported 26 people lived in the building, more people than the housing authority knew about or allowed.

What was the cause? Investigators said they do not yet know how the fire started, but firefighters battled heavy flames in the kitchen area of a second-floor apartment near a stairwell. Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said of the four smoke detectors in the building, none raised the alarm. The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) said the alarms were inspected annually, and at least two were replaced in 2020. Kelvin Jeremiah, CEO of the PHA, confirmed all detectors were functioning as of May 2021.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Sift on the latest developments in a Colorado wildfire.