Man dead, 2 people hospitalized after house fire in Philadelphia's Point Breeze neighborhood
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A house fire Tuesday in Philadelphia has left a man dead and two people in the hospital, according to police.
The fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. in the 1600 block of Ellsworth Street in the city's Point Breeze neighborhood.
A man was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:05 a.m., police said.
Fire officials said a man and a woman were rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with "extremely critical injuries."
CBS News Philadelphia cameras captured multiple fire engines and firefighters going in and out of a home. Three ladders were erected, and firefighters were seen on the roof of the home.
The outside of the house was damaged and partially charred from flames.
"Companies, when they first arrived on scene," Philadelphia Fire Executive Chief Daniel McCarty said, "they did see heavy smoke and fire coming from the second and third floor windows."
The Philadelphia Fire Department said the fire was placed under control at 11:30 a.m. The department said about 80 members responded to the fire. No firefighters were injured during the fight.
It's unclear how the fire started.
"I'm still shaking," neighbor Tamara Vickers said. "My hands are still shaking. It's really unbelievable."
Vickers' backyard faces the rowhome. She said the woman who lived there, whom she and others on the block affectionately call "Ms. Alice," is a pillar in Point Breeze.
"She sits on her steps, she says hello to everybody," Vickers said. "She makes sure everything is running smoothly, or what have you. One of the neighbors here on the block helped Ms. Alice until the rescue came. She held her and talked to her until the rescue came."
That neighbor was Johanna Ross.
"My nursing judgement just kicked in," Ross said. "I ran right over there and I made sure I turned her on her left side."
Robert Dawson lives nearby and was eating lunch at the senior center at Broad and Lombard streets, a little less than a mile away, when the fire broke out. He left the center after he said he smelled fire to see what was going on.
"It seemed like a whole city of fire engines was right here," Dawson, who lives a few blocks away, said. "I don't know, man. Fire, if you don't catch it, there ain't nothing you can do about it. Fire, water, it will tear your house up, especially fire."
Fire officials said they did not note any working smoke detectors inside the home, but that detail remains under investigation.
