“This is without a doubt one of the most tragic days in our city’s history — loss of so many people in such a tragic way,” Mayor Jim Kenney said at the start of a news conference late Wednesday morning.
“Losing so many kids is just devastating. … Keep these babies in your prayers,” Kenney said.
Firefighters responded to flames around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday at the row house at 869 N. 23rd Street in the city’s Fairmount neighborhood.
Firefighters found “heavy fire” in a kitchen area in front of the second floor, and there was “nothing slowing that fire from moving,” Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy said.
Thirteen people were killed; two others were taken to hospitals; and eight people got out by themselves, Murphy said.
“It was terrible,” Murphy said. “This is probably one of the worst fires I ever been to.”
Twenty-six people lived in the three-story building — eight on the first floor, and 18 on the second and third floors, fire officials said.
The cause of the fire will be investigated, Murphy said. It took 50 minutes to place the fire under control, the fire department said.
Some smoke detectors did not operate, official says
Murphy, when asked whether the building had smoke detectors, said, “There were four smoke detectors in the building, and none of them operated.”
Murphy later indicated that Philadelphia Housing Authority records showed that at least six battery-operated smoke detectors had been installed there from 2019 to 2020.
A housing authority official, however, said the agency had different information about the detectors.
One of the apartments — the “A unit” — had “seven (smoke detectors) and three carbon monoxide (detectors) present” at its last inspection, said Dinesh Indala, housing authority senior executive vice president of operations.
That inspection was on April 23, Indala said, without specifying the year. CNN has requested clarification. Two of the smoke detectors were installed on that visit, Indala said.
The other apartment — the “B unit,” had six functional smoke detectors and three functional carbon monoxide detectors as of its last inspection, in May 2021, Indala said.
Two batteries and two smoke detectors were replaced in that inspection, Indala said.
Smoke detectors also were replaced in the B unit in an inspection in September 2019, according to Indala.
When asked by a reporter why the smoke detectors did not work if they were inspected in May 2021, Indala replied, “I don’t know if they were replaced or tampered with.”
“We have no idea. We are working with the fire department at this time to do further inspections,” Indala said.
It wasn’t immediately clear which floors the A and B units covered.
Indala said in general, one of the biggest issues faced in public housing is having to replace batteries and smoke detectors in residences.
“Every time we come in for an inspection, as is evident from the last one, we had to replace two batteries, replace the smoke detectors,” Indala said. “And these are 10-year smoke detectors, so that’s something we run into quite often on our properties.”
Faulty smoke detectors are treated as emergencies and are replaced in 24 hours if requested.
He urged those who live in Philadelphia public housing units not to tamper with the smoke detectors. “Please don’t tamper with the smoke detectors and don’t take the batteries out for any reason,” Indala said.
The authority does inspections annually, Indala said.
The row house is owned by the housing authority, according to property records obtained by CNN. The authority develops, acquires, leases and operates affordable housing for city residents.
Row home was legally subdivided, city official says
The row home has been legally subdivided into two apartments since the 1950s and has had no violations, according to a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections.
The home has had three minor complaints since 2019, all related to trash maintenance, department spokesperson Karen Guss said.
One complaint was about trash on the exterior of the property in September of 2021 and October 2021. A complaint about trash and poorly maintained interior surfaces was made in 2019, Guss said.
The building, according to records, was estimated to have been built in 1920.
The home is about 2.5 miles northwest of Philadelphia’s Center City district.
CNN’s Laura Dolan, Mark Morales and Kristina Sgueglia contributed to this report.
