Fire burns through townhouses under construction in Point Breeze

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Investigators will try to determine the cause of a raging two-alarm fire early Monday that destroyed two townhouses under construction in South Philadelphia’s gentrifying Point Breeze neighborhood.

No injuries were reported in the blaze at South 20th and Wharton Streets.

Neighbor gave me this vid of fire @ 20th&Wharton in Point Breeze. 2 homes under construction destroyed �� Ryan Brown pic.twitter.com/3w8cqFLoM6

— Trang Do (@TrangDoCBS3) May 1, 2017

Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters at the scene that the fire, which was reported about 4:15 a.m., destroyed two of about nine townhouses under construction at the site.

He said light construction such as that being used at the site is particularly combustible when work has not been completed on separating the units, which appeared to be the case here.

It took about 75 firefighters operating from 22 pieces of equipment about an hour to bring the fire under control. Thiel credited firefighters with tackling the fire quickly and aggressively, saying that “anywhere else in the country,” the blaze would have gone top five alarms and consumed the entire block.

Thiel said investigators would seek to determine the cause of the fire once they could enter the ruins.

Published: May 1, 2017 — 7:13 AM EDT

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