Fire tore through Old City Philadelphia apartments early Tuesday and residents raised questions about if they were given proper warning.
The blaze broke out around 4:45 a.m. along Letitia Street near Front and Market streets. NBC10 cameras could see flames shooting from the roof.
Residents from the top two floors of 14 S Letitia Street were evacuated and one person suffered minor injuries as he attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, said crews on the scene.
The fire spread to an adjacent building but firefighters got the blaze under control after about an hour, said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel. Firefighters expected to be on the scene dousing hot spots for at least a couple of hours
Expect traffic trouble in the area as Market and 2nd streets were closed and SEPTA detoured its route 5, 9, 17, 21, 33 and 48 buses.
Residents told NBC10’s Pamela Osborne that they didn’t hear the fire alarms going off and helped each other get out of the home. [[412256643, C]]
"The neighbors banging on the door got me up, I knocked on my neighbors door, got him up," said resident David Moran, who lives on the fourth floor.
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A woman who lives on the top floor said the fire appeared to start on the roof and began melting skylights. No official word yet on a cause of the blaze.
Thiel said that when firefighters entered the building they could hear fire alarms going off.
Moran said the roof of the building also caught fire about a decade ago.
