A Fountain Hill firefighter injured his knee in a fall at an apartment fire this afternoon, according to authorities.
Fountain
Hill Assistant Chief Dan Pope said the firefighter was transported to
St. Luke’s University Hospital in the borough for treatment of the
injury after he fell down inside 925 Seneca St. while crews were working to extinguish a blaze.
The fire appeared to have originated from the rear bedroom of the apartment, Pope said.
The
fire, called in about 4:15 p.m., was under control within 30 minutes,
Pope said. No one was home at the time, but crews evacuated a next-door
apartment, according to resident Percy Lee.
Lee said he smelled smoke about 4 p.m.
“I thought someone was grilling outside,” Lee said as he watched crews get the fire under control.
After
he was ordered to leave the building, Lee said he could see the flames
leaping out of the second floor in the rear of the building.“The flames were really high there,” he said. “They were big.”
Pope
said the fire is under investigation, but indicated it didn’t seem
suspicious. Nancy Run and Se-Wy-Co fire departments fought the blaze
alongside the Fountain Hill Fire Department, according to Pope.
It
was not immediately clear how many people would be displaced as a
result of the fire, but Pope said there are two apartments in the
building.
