Philly Firefighters Battle Massive Warehouse Blaze

May 19 -- Firefighters battled a massive five-alarm fire Friday evening in what appeared to be an unoccupied warehouse-industrial building in the Swampoodle section of North Philadelphia.

It took more than 2½ hours to be brought under control. No injuries were reported.

Officials said the blaze was in a four-story building in the area of 21st and Lippincott Streets, less than a block away from a commuter rail line.

Officials said they got word of the blaze at 6:26 p.m. and fire crews arrived three minutes later. The fire quickly grew to four alarms and flames could be seen engulfing the structure with some of the walls collapsing. A fifth alarm was called around 8 p.m.

The fire was declared under control shortly after 9 p.m., but it would be many hours before it was snuffed out, said Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel.

“We’re going to have more than 200 firefighters here working all night,” he said.

A nearby church suffered some damage from burning embers, Thiel said.

Power was shut down in the immediate area to help firefighters and some residents were expected to remain in the dark into the night, Thiel said.

There were some reports that the building was a former textile equipment factory.

Thiel said he did not know who owned the property, and there was no word on what caused the blaze.

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