Fire damaged windows are seen at the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A large house fire in Philadelphia early Wednesday killed 13 people, including seven children, and sent two people to hospitals, fire officials said.
Officials said at a news conference later in the morning that there were four smoke detectors in the building but that none were operating.
Firefighters and police responded to the fire at a three-story rowhouse in the city’s Fairmount neighborhood around 6:40 a.m. and found flames coming from the second-floor windows, fire officials said. The house had been converted into two apartments, police said.
The fire was brought under control after less than an hour. WPVI-TV reported that at least one child was seen taken out on a stretcher.
Television news footage showed ladders propped up against the smoke-blackened front of the house, with all its windows missing. Holes remained in the roof where firefighters had broken through.
"I knew some of those kids -- I used to see them playing on the corner,” said Dannie McGuire, 34, fighting back tears as she and Martin Burgert, 35, stood in the doorway of a home around the corner. They had lived there for a decade, she said, “and some of those kids have lived here as long as us.”
“I can’t picture how more people couldn’t get out -- jumping out a window,” she said.
“Losing so many kids is just devastating,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “Keep these babies in your prayers.”
Ben Armstrong, founder of Bitboy Crypto, joins Cheddar News to discuss Bitcoin's downward trend and what's next for crypto after protests in Kazakhstan cause crypto miners to shut down.
Jake Carbone, senior data analyst at InfluenceMap joins Cheddar News to talk about a new report by The Guardian and InfluenceMap that reveals how companies are creating fossil fuel ads designed to look like Google search results.
Desmond Howard, former NFL wide receiver and Modelo college football playoff ambassador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the Modelo sweepstakes honoring the 30th anniversary of his iconic punt return.
The highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 has forced school districts nationwide to return to virtual instruction, but there remain concerns about the quality of education students are receiving online. Andy Bird, CEO of Pearson, an education publisher and assessment service provider, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about steps educators and parents can take to make the remote learning experience an easier one, noting that one of the biggest advantages teachers can have is flexibility. "You cannot take a rigid timetable that works in the analog world and replicate that in the digital world. You need to have flexibility. Asynchronous learning, I think, is a very important part," he told Cheddar.
On this episode of ChedHER: Chief Product Officer at Mathison breaks down how she's building tech to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace; Co-Founder and CEO of Carewell.com explains how her platform is easing the pressures that come with caregiving; Founder and CEO of Mentor Agility discusses what goals business owners should set in the new year.
Bianca Padilla, Co-Founder and CEO of Carewell.com, joins ChedHER to discuss how her platform is easing the pressures that come with caregiving, and how she's breaking barriers for women in venture capital.
Elizabeth Spenko, Chief Product Officer at Mathison, joins ChedHER to discuss how she's building tech to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, and an outlook on DEI in 2022.
Julie Elledge, Founder and CEO of Mentor Agility, joins ChedHER to discuss what goals business owners should set in the new year, and what tools are out there for emerging entrepreneurs.
Rob Dongoski, EY Food and Agriculture Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss what advancements in tech will shape the future of food, and how we are going to see more and more personalization in the food system.
It's no secret tech giant Amazon has a mission of becoming a major player in sports media, and the company is poised to make progress on that goal in 2022. Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home to Thursday Night Football for the 2022-23 NFL season. In December, the New York Post reported that Amazon is in the beginning stages of developing studio sports programs, and hopes to soon have a full daily lineup of sports shows. Front Office Sports senior reporter A.J. Perez joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
