Images of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 05, 2001.
Along Dauphin Street just west of Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 05, 2001
Lehigh Avenue and Germantown Avenue, photographed April 05, 2001.
Dauphin Street and Lawrence, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 05, 2001.
North Philadelphia, one block below Marston Street, April 05, 2001.
Indiana Avenue and Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 05, 2001.
Seven dead in row house fire
A grisly scene on Indiana Avenue in North Philadelphia early Friday morning, as authorities removed bodies one by one, following a deadly fire at a three-story row house.
Seven people were killed, and a young girl was sent to the hospital with injuries. Fire crews arrived to heavy smoke and fire. As they worked to put out the intense blaze, they realized seven people were trapped inside. The victims were found on both the first and second floor ‘ all of them elderly residents of this boarding house of the elderly. Neighbors say a woman who cared for the residents owns the home.
The structure lacked an effective alarm system and had never been licensed as a rooming house by the state or city, authorities said.
By Thomas J. Gibbons Jr., Julie Stoiber, and Dale MezzacappaThe North Philadelphia rooming house where seven people died in a Good Friday fire appears to have had all the ingredients of a tragedy waiting to happen.
It lacked a license. It didn't have an effective alarm system. It was filled with trash. And it had a population that included elderly and handicapped tenants.
An 11-year-old girl died of injuries suffered in Friday's rooming-house blaze. The District Attorney's Office will investigate.
By Barbara Boyer
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
An 11-year-old girl who was pulled from a fire in a non-licensed rooming house last week died yesterday as neighbors and family in North Philadelphia mourned the deaths of seven other victims.
Sabrina Allen was taken off life support at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was admitted on Friday after firefighters rescued her from a blaze that broke out shortly after sunrise.
April 19, 2001
The mayor wants to spend $250 million demolishing vacant buildings and constructing houses. Reaction was mixed.
By Cynthia Burton and Clea Benson
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
After more than a year of preparation, Mayor Street yesterday unveiled his signature plan for the city: a daring $250 million project to reverse decades of decline and revitalize Philadelphia's neighborhoods.
The five-year plan calls, in part, for demolishing as many as 14,000 buildings, creating 16,000 new housing units, providing low-cost home-repair loans, and cracking down on illegal dumpers and inattentive landlords....
James E. Frizzell
Post Office Box 595
Kimberton, Pennsylvania 19442
e-mail: jimmy@jim-frizzell.com
date posted: April 09, 2001