Seven people die in house fire; kerosene heater apparent cause
Four adults and three children died in the fire in a Liberian enclave in southwest Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A house fire apparently caused by an exploding kerosene heater killed seven people, most of whom were found huddled together in the basement, a survivor and firefighters said.
The Friday night blaze in a three-story brick duplex killed four adults and three children, including a 1-year-old who was cradled in the arms of another victim.
Four people survived the fire, which broke out around 10:45 p.m. in a Liberian enclave in the southwest section of the city, near Philadelphia International Airport, fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.
Harris Murphy, who moved from Liberia to the U.S. in 1996, said he was in the home watching a movie with the others when the fire erupted.
Murphy, 35, first returned to the burned home around 3 a.m. Saturday after being discharged from the hospital, still in his hospital gown. He said that a kerosene heater had “exploded” after a woman added fuel to it and it became too hot.
Murphy later returned to the scene in street clothes around 9 a.m. and further described what led to the fatal blaze. His right hand and head remained bandaged, and burns and blisters were visible on his left hand, ears and nose.
He said after a woman added fuel to the heater, she tried to move it outside through the basement’s only door. The flaming liquid fell to the floor, setting the carpet on fire, and several people in the room tried to stamp out the flames.
Murphy said he ran into a basement bathroom with another man and two children, got in the tub and turned on the shower to try to wait out the flames until firefighters arrived. After a few moments, he said he decided to make a break for it because the smoke was growing thick.
The whole basement was engulfed in fire and “I just ran through it,” he said.
He called authorities and told them there were children in a shower in the basement. He was expecting that they would be found alive and learned hours later that seven had perished.
Murphy said “it was a miracle of God” that he got out. He said one of the victims was his best friend of 25 years.
Fire marshals were investigating the cause of the fire.
Authorities were looking for possible code violations in the home, and Ayers found one almost immediately: The basement had only one exit.
The one victim who wasn’t huddled with the others was found near the basement door, said Ayers, who stressed the need for homes to have accessible exits and smoke alarms.
“We went through every inch of this place,” he said. “We have not found a smoke alarm, not one.”
The victims’ identities weren’t immediately disclosed by authorities. The neighborhood is home to many of the city’s 15,000 Liberian immigrants, and soon after daybreak Liberian community members began showing up to learn more about the victims.
Anthony Kesselly, president of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, lives in the neighborhood and said he knew one of the victims very well. He came to the house as soon as he heard the news Saturday morning.
“We are very close-knit people,” said Kesselly.
Firefighters were trying to determine the relationships among the seven victims and the four people who escaped. They believed the victims might have been from two families.
Fire officials said the people who live in the upper part of the building weren’t home at the time; the duplex’s other half suffered smoke damage, and its residents were being helped by the Red Cross.
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