The Express-Times
(TNS)
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with more details from Allentown Fire Dept. Assistant Chief Michael Zellin.
Dozens of people have been displaced after a fast-moving blaze tore through two row homes and spread to others Tuesday in Center City Allentown, a fire official said.
Allentown Fire Dept. Assistant Chief Michael Zellin told lehighvalleylive.com flames ignited around 3 p.m. at the two row homes — near the center of a cluster of others — in the 700 block of North Seventh Street, close to the intersection with Tilghman Street.
Flames are believed to have started in the rear of those two buildings, Zellin said.
All occupants of the row homes managed to escape safely on their own when responding crews arrived. There was an unconfirmed report of a cat missing from one of the homes, Zellin noted.
City fire officials posted on X the blaze eventually rose to three alarms, drawing the response of multiple agencies.
“We attacked it from both ends trying to locate the main bulk of fire,” Zellin said Wednesday morning. “We had an engine in the rear alley and other units out front on 7th Street.”
It took about three hours to get the flames under control, Zellin said. Thunderstorms rolled into the region by Tuesday evening with firefighters facing challenging conditions, including blasts of lightning, heavy downpours, gusty winds, and some hail.
“We were doing an interior attack, but we pulled out once the fire got up into the ceilings and roof,” he said. “We then were making an exterior attack with our ladders and deck guns.”
Lightning strikes forced crews to lower ladders and the Lehigh County Drone team responding to survey the damage to pack it in for the evening, Zellin said. Traffic became an issue with portions of bustling 4th and Tilghman streets blocked off by police during the evening rush hour to let crews into the fire scene.
One firefighter was injured and taken to an area hospital for treatment, Zellin said. A condition was not immediately unavailable Wednesday morning.
In the end, at least 36 people remain displaced, Zellin said, noting the city’s fire department is awaiting final figures from the Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross stepped in to help the families with shelter, food, relief supplies and emotional support.
Cristina Maisel, regional communications manager for the Pennsylvania Chapter, said an emergency shelter for victims has been set up at the Allentown YMCA, 425 15th St., in the city. Five people used the shelter overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, she told lehighvalleylive.com.
That amount of people, however, is expected to fluctuate Wednesday, Maisel said.
“The shelter population can be very fluid as people come and go throughout the day, to go to work, school or attend to other personal matters,” she said.
At least four buildings are believed to be totally destroyed and uninhabitable. Three have significant fire and water damage while a fourth has major water damage, Zellin said.
“We also had to do some inspection holes in that (fourth) house to check for extension,” he said.
The cause of Tuesday’s blaze in unknown. It remains under investigation by Allentown fire officials. Victims from Tuesday’s fire in need of Red Cross assistance are asked to call 1-800- RED CROSS.
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