ATF joins Barclay Friends inferno probe

WEST CHESTER » With the rampaging inferno that destroyed the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community still not fully extinguished, officials Friday afternoon said they were still unable to enter the fire scene.

Officials said it might be until early next week before they are able to give specific numbers in terms of those injured any possible fatalities and an initial result of the investigation into the blaze.

A phalanx of county and federal law enforcement and fire officials gather for a 3 p.m. press conference, 16 hours after the Barclay home burst into an inferno.

ATF public information officer Charlene Hennessy said at a the Friday afternoon press conference that none of the senior care center’s 160 residents were unaccounted for.

“We can’t get into the structure,” Hennessy said. “No one at this point came forward and said we can’t account for a loved one.”

Chester County Department of Emergency Services Director Robert Kagel described the transporting of residents as “a little chaotic.” Some relatives of residents showed at the scene and took family members away without registering that they had done so.

ATF Special Agent in Charge Don Robinson said there were no confirmed deaths.

“We’re for still trying to account everybody before

we make a final determination,” he said. “Our number one priority is to account for everybody.”

Twenty seven residents were treated at local hospitals, while 17 still remained hospitalized Friday afternoon, according to West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn.

Robinson said that 25 staffers from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from the Reading and Philadelphia area are converging on the fire scene to assist local and county investigators, officials said. A national

response team of 25 more agents specializing in fire and arson investigation also is in transit.

District Attorney Tom Hogan stressed prior to the press conference that 400 emergency responders and community members created a “tremendous” response.

“We had elderly citizens of Chester County caught in an inferno and all of those people worked together to pull victims out of danger,” Hogan said. “Now we are focused on investigating and taking care of the victims.”