Philadelphia working through backlog of smoke alarm requests in wake of tragic Kensington blaze
Philadelphia working through backlog of smoke alarm requests
In the wake of a tragic fire in Kensington that killed four, including three children, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel spoke about thousands of smoke detectors that have been installed around the city. The Philadelphia Fire Department said it has installed 4200 smoke alarms since December, with 5700 requests for alarms still to be installed.
PHILADELPHIA - As investigators work to determine what sparked a Kensington rowhome fire that killed a father and his three children last weekend, Philadelphia is battling a backlog of unfulfilled smoke alarm requests.
Yamalier, 5, Yadriel, 9, and 12-year-old Alexangel Arroyo-Santana perished in a rowhome fire early Sunday morning on the 3200 block of Hartville Street in Kensington.
Neighbors say their father, Alexis, also died in the blaze after he told his wife to jump out a window to safety while he went further into the home to save the children.
"He had a chance to jump out, but he ended up telling his wife to jump out of the window. He’ll get the children, so he died a hero," a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous said.
Fire investigators have not pinpointed what started the fire, but they said no smoke alarms were sounding when firefighters arrived.
3 children, father killed in Kensington rowhome fire
The School District of Philadelphia identified three children killed in a rowhome fire as Yamalier, 5, Yadriel, 9, and 12-year-old Alexangel. The children's father was also killed when family members say he went back into the fire to search for the kids.
"We aren’t prepared so say that there were no alarms," Battalion Chief Gustav Baumann said. "We just know no alarms sounded upon arrival of the fire department."
In the wake of the tragedy, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel spoke about thousands of smoke alarms that have been installed around the city. The Philadelphia Fire Department said it has installed 4200 smoke alarms since December, with 5700 requests for alarms still to be installed.
FOX 29's Jeff Cole discovered that from December to Apr. 24, there were 53 unfulfilled smoke alarm requests in properties surrounding the home where four died.
The city on Friday afternoon the Philadelphia Fire Department said it has gone to 11 homes and installed 31 smoke alarms.
The alarms and installation are free to residents who cannot afford them, and the work is sometimes done by local fire departments. In Kensington, Engine 25 is the busiest in the city with 3700 runs last year.
"I think that every property should already have smoke alarms in it, that is the requirement, those are the regulations," Commissioner Thiel said. "That's why we do it, that's why we've been going out and getting grant money and we've done almost 50,000 in the past 5 years."
The four deaths push the number of people killed in fires in Philadelphia this year to 21, including the nine children and three adults killed in January's tragic Fairmount apartment fire.
"This latest tragedy was in Kensington, we don't know where the next working fire will be, which is why we're going to continue to install smoke alarms all around the city as fast as we can, as best as we can," Thiel said.