Residents ran down the hallway knocking on doors and yelling to help neighbors get out as a blaze burned at a Northeast Philadelphia apartment building overnight.
Three people, including a firefighter, suffered injuries in the fire that broke out shortly after midnight Tuesday on the second floor of the G Building at the Canterbury Court Apartments at Academy Road and Morrell Avenue.
Firefighters rescued one person and another person was taken to the hospital for evaluation while a firefighter suffered minor injuries that required treatment, Fire Deputy Chief Gary Loesch said.
But, it could have been worse if not for quick-moving firefighters and neighbors helping each other.
“They started knocking on the doors and saying the building was on fire,” resident Troy Weaks said.
Weaks left his building to see another building, which houses about 10 units, engulfed in flames.
“(Residents) just start running through the building and start trying to get everybody out,” Weaks said. “They just start kicking on the door and knocking and people just start coming out.”
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Residents hoped to return to their homes to assess the damage. In the meantime, the American Red Cross assisted with about 50 people displaced and a waiting SEPTA bus served as a temporary shelter.
The cause of the fire, which left smoke and water damage throughout the morning, remained under investigation Tuesday morning.
