Child, Firefighter Hurt in Blaze

Four people including a child and a firefighter were hurt when flames tore through a family's home this morning.

Flames broke out at the home along the 5200 block of N Sydenham Street in the Ogontz section of Philadelphia around 3:30 a.m.

Crews were able to knock back the flames but not before a man in his 40s suffered burns and smoke inhalation, his 9-year-old child suffered smoke inhalation and a firefighter hurt his arm. A woman, believed to be the man's wife, was also hurt.

It took only about 15 minutes to knock down the fire but the damage was done.

The fire gutted out much of the home. The family was lucky to get out alive. Firefighters on the scene told NBC10 that there were smoke detectors on both floors of the home but there were no batteries in any of those devices.

The fire also damaged two surrounding homes.

"There's real bad smoke damage and water damage and a couple places (firefighters) knocked holes in the walls," said next door neighbor Rufus Briggs.

Briggs said he will likely need to stay someplace else because of the damage.

No word yet on what caused the fire.

This was the ninth fire in about 36 hours in the city.

Two other fires burned overnight. The first fire broke out around 11:30 p.m. Thursday on the 1700 block of Page Street in North Philadelphia. No one was hurt in that blaze. A fire then broke out around 2 a.m. on the 3200 block of Port Richmond Street. A man in his 60s was hospitalized in stable condition with smoke inhalation, according to firefighters.

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