Four Philadelphia police officers suffered injuries trying to stop a deadly boardinghouse blaze overnight.
Flames broke out shortly after 11 p.m. along the 800 block of Chelten Avenue in the Germantown section of the city.
“Upon arrival (firefighters) reported meeting smoke on the second floor,” said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer.
Firefighters got the blaze quickly under control but it was too late for a man they found dead inside a locked second-floor room.
A group of police officers tried to stop the blaze.
“We did have four police officers with minor injuries from trying to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher prior to the fire department arriving,” said Sawyer.
Sawyer described the injuries as minor and said no officers suffered burns. One officer, however, remained hospitalized overnight.
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Three other people made it out of the home safely after one of the residents heard a smoke alarm, said Sawyer.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation early Monday but it appeared to be electrical, according to firefighters.
Sawyer said this was the 28th fire death so far this year — up from 21 all of last year.
