- Firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire in Allentown early Sunday
- Flames were showing by the time emergency crews arrived
- One woman was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, where she was pronounced dead. Four others were injured, officials said
UPDATE: Coroner identifies 28-year-old victim in Allentown fatal fire
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A 28-year-old woman was fatally injured in a three-alarm fire that destroyed one home and extended to at least seven others in the city’s Jordan Heights neighborhood early Sunday, officials said.
Four others were taken to the hospital, officials said.
The woman, whom officials did not immediately identify pending notification of her family, was pronounced dead at 7:39 a.m. in the emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, according to Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio.
Buglio said an autopsy will be performed Tuesday to determine a cause of death.
The fire was dispatched about 6:30 a.m. in the 900 block of N. Penn Street, Allentown Fire Captain John Christopher said.
Christopher said that, “for the first arriving crews, it looked quite impressive, with heavy fire showing at 915 North Penn.”
The initial dispatch reported people trapped in the home. Firefighters rescued an adult female from the second floor, where she was found unresponsive, and she was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital.
Christopher said she was not a burn victim.
"We first came out when it was already smoky, because the lady who lives over there [a few doors down], she was already screaming, saying 'Help! Help!' We opened the front door and there was a lot of smoke. We couldn't see anything outside. There were no alarms."Eliam Lega, whose home received smoke and water damage
Buglio said no additional information about the death would be released Sunday.
Four others from the same building were taken to the hospital — two for observation who were subsequently were released and two others who were admitted, Christopher said.
“My condolences and prayers are with the family of the victim and everyone involved in this tragedy," Buglio said. “Thank you to the firefighters of the Allentown Fire Department for your swift and heroic actions.”
Reports of a missing child were unfounded, Christopher said.
“They were saying a child was in there and ultimately it turned out the child had gone outside and was found outside,” he said.
Antonio Machuca, who lives across the street from the buildings that burned, said that, about 5:45 a.m., "I just noticed ... people screaming."
"Somebody was screaming '911,' so we looked out the window," Machura said. "It was wild for a little bit, that fire."
He also described seeing "heavy, heavy" flames.
Eliam Lega's home received smoke and water damage but was spared the worst of the fire.
"We first came out when it was already smoky, because the lady who lives over there [a few doors down], she was already screaming, saying 'Help! Help!'" Lega said.
"We opened the front door and there was a lot of smoke. We couldn't see anything outside. There were no alarms."
'Pretty much the whole block’
Christopher said there was heavy fire damage and heat damage to the first floor in the home where the blaze broke out, and smoke and water damage throughout the home.
“It did extend and caused some interior damage to [the home at] 917," he said. "Then it got outside the door and went under the porch roof pretty much the whole block — about eight homes.
“It remained exterior with varying degrees of severity.”
Christopher said smoke alarms were heard going off all down the block, but he wasn't sure whether they were in the house where the fire started.
At the scene Sunday morning, wind gusts were very strong. It could not immediately be confirmed whether that contributed to the fire's severity.
Personnel from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also were on the scene, as was Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, who spoke with victims, received a briefing from first responders, and at one point helped try to catch a dog who belonged to someone on the street.
"We hate to see a loss like this. It's a tough beat for this neighborhood, that is one of our awesome older neighborhoods. I can see that everybody's out here taking care of everybody else. That's what Allentonians do."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
"We hate to see a loss like this," said Tuerk, who toured the scene Sunday morning.
"It's a tough beat for this neighborhood, that is one of our awesome older neighborhoods. I can see that everybody's out here taking care of everybody else. That's what Allentonians do."
Tuerk said an investigation into the fire's cause was under way, but declined to comment on details of it.
In addition to the coroner’s office, Allentown Fire Department, Allentown Fire Marshal, Pa. State Police, and Allentown Police Department were investigating.
Cleanup already starts
Firefighters remained on scene hours later for what Christopher described as “extensive overhaul” due to damage throughout the block.
Two firefighters also were transported from the scene with minor injuries.
“The firefighter suffered a bee sting and had some reaction, so he was taken for observation,” Christopher said. “He’s going to be just fine.”
He said another, transported for "overexertion," was also in good shape.
Meanwhile, neighbors began cleaning up Sunday morning, hosing soot off their front porches and picking up vinyl siding mangled by the heat.
Down the street, contractors propped up a damaged porch and boarded up broken windows.
Tuerk said city contractors were working to stabilize the buildings.
