Three dead, including two young children, after overnight inferno engulfs Philadelphia home
A devastating house fire in Philadelphia has shattered a community, tragically taking the lives of three people, including two young children.The blaze erupted at around 1am on Tuesday morning on Hope Street in North Philadelphia, leaving a 45-year-old woman, a six-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy caught among the flames. 'We responded to a report of a fire in the 3400 block of Hope St just after 1am... Engine 55 arrived to see heavy smoke coming from the first and second floors of a two-story home,' Rachel Cunningham, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fire Department, told the Daily Mail in a statement. 'While searching the home, firefighters found two children and one adult on the second floor and got them out to our EMS providers to receive treatment and transport to hospital.' Cunningham confirmed that all three occupants of the home were pronounced deceased at hospital. Firefighters contained the inferno just before 1.30am. Deputy Fire Chief Frank Hannan told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the two children were transported to St Christopher's Hospital, and the woman was taken to Temple hospital. On Facebook, a medical assistant for Delaware Valley Community Health commented: 'I was in the ambulance when the call came over for the six-year-old girl that was being transported to St Chris for smoke inhalation. So sad.' The blaze erupted at around 1am on Tuesday morning on Hope Street in North Philadelphia Smoke was seen billowing out of the windows, as officials said the fire was mostly on the first floor The cause of the blaze remains unclear, as the investigation is ongoing, but fire officials told the outlet that the home wasn't fit with any working smoke detectors All three occupants of the home, a 45-year-old woman, a six-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy, were all pronounced dead after being taken to hospitalA responding firefighter, Oscar Figueroa, wrote in a separate post: 'Words cannot describe what was witnessed this morning. 'It was surreal [I] just can't even imagine it, but everyone on scene committed their absolute best. RIP to the family lost this morning.'The investigation is ongoing.While the cause of the blaze remains unclear at this time, fire officials told the outlet that the home wasn't fit with any working smoke detectors. Those who were killed in the tragic accident have not yet been identified. Philadelphia Fire Department Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson told NBC 10 that the relationship between the victims was not immediately clear. However, officials believe that the woman caught up in the inferno was not the children's mother.The children's mother is currently in hospital, Thompson added. The Daily Mail has reached out to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office for comment.
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Three dead, including two young children, after overnight inferno engulfs Philadelphia home
