Fire routs residents in Sharon Hill apartments
1 minor injury in smoky aparment building blaze
SHARON HILL » A threealarm fire ripped through an apartment building at the corner of Woodland and Sharon avenues Friday afternoon, chasing residents from their homes. Luckily, only one occupant suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation, according to Police Chief Richard Herron.
The call came in at 2:26 p.m. for a building fire at 1116 Woodland Ave. with possible entrapment and explosives. Sharon Hill Fire Chief William Benecke said borough fire personnel were returning from another call when they saw the billowing smoke from the burning three-story building just two blocks up from the fire station on Sharon Avenue.
The department responded and immediately started to put out the fire from inside even while some sort of explosions were reported to go off. What was causing these explosions was not immediately known.
Benecke said all persons escaped the building, but one person was treated for smoke inhalation at Taylor Hospital.
“At 2:26 p.m., emergency personnel responded to 400 Sharon Avenue … for a report of a possible explosion with a building fire,” said Herron at about 4:45 p.m. outside the scene Friday. “Upon arrival, emergency personnel experienced heavy smoke from the building. It’s an active scene right now, fire companies are still working to extinguish the fire.”
Herron said all occupants had been accounted for and the smoke inhalation victim was transported to Taylor Hospital for treatment. A Red Cross station was set up at borough hall to accommodate residents, he said.
Benecke said firefighters searched the six-unit building upon arrival but did not locate anyone else. No emergency personnel were injured and no information about the cause was immediately available.
Benecke said crews could not return inside the structure later Friday afternoon due to a collapsed roof. Several hundred emergency personnel were on hand for the operation, according to Benecke.
“We’re surrounding it and drowning it with all the large-diameter hoses of the ladder trucks,” said Benecke. “Once we feel we have the bulk of the fire knocked (down), we’ll carefully ascertain how the building is, maybe sen have d somebody in the first floor to check and see how it is, and eventually I’m sure it will to be demolished.”
By 6 p.m., a collapse zone was taped off on Woodland Avenue for one part of the building that sustained severe damage, and fire personnel were no longer allowed to enter the building. Fire could still be seen on the building’s third floor, and fire crews were waiting for the hot spots to smolder out before they continued to extinguish the building with high pressure hoses.
Collingdale, Yeadon, Norwood, Prospect Park and Drexel Hill were just some of the fire departments who assisted at the scene.
A cause for the fire had not yet been determined by Friday evening, but Benecke believes it started on a back deck on the top floor.
The American Red Cross was on the scene to provide help to affected persons.