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The cause of a fire raging in a duplex in Harrisburg early Sunday night could never be known because of the catastrophic damage done to the building, said Monday Fire Chief Brian Enterline.
Firefighters plan to wait until Tuesday to see if it is safe to return to their partially collapsed house at 550 Radnor Street and investigate the case. At present, the entire back half of the house is exposed from the third basement to the basement.
"And the rest is precariously suspended," Enterline said.
Firefighters would also like to get inside the burned house to retrieve a hose and two nozzles that were dropped during the shootout after the explosion of an object in the under -ground.
But if the house is too unstable, the department may lose its $ 500 worth of equipment because the pipe is currently entangled in debris.
Firefighters are trained to leave a building immediately after an explosion, as explosions can trigger giant fireballs and collapse of buildings.
In this case, there was no fireball, which indicates that the explosion was probably a hot water boiler or an empty heating oil tank that exploded due to the incredible heat released by the fire, said Enterline. Some media initially mistakenly reported that an explosion could have caused the fire.
Firefighters were first called to the fire at 1:10 am, after several calls from neighbors and bystanders. The inhabitants of the burning house were not at home at that time and the neighbors had not seen them for about a week.
Residents on the other side of the duplex were able to leave their homes safely, as were residents of another duplex (two houses). A total of five adults and four children were evacuated.
Firefighters arrived within three minutes and found the three floors were filled with flames, Enterline said.
Firefighters dragged a hose to the inside and began to reduce the fire that was spreading to the neighboring house and two neighboring houses.
About 15 minutes after the start of the fighting, an explosion shook the entire neighborhood, triggering the cars' alarm, Enterline said. Firefighters inside the house dropped their hose and came out quickly.
Once the firefighters evacuated, they started fighting the flames from the outside with large streams of water. While the firewall separating the sides of the duplex worked well by keeping smoke and flames contained on one side, Enterline said the flames could spread to neighboring and neighboring homes through 39, empty spaces in the front and back porches, balconies and side windows.
The firefighters extinguished the main fire after about 90 minutes.
Two firefighters were lightly burned in the performance of their duties. Molten aluminum ran down a fireman, melted in his Nomex hood and burned his neck.
Residents of the adjacent unit lost all their property. Families have launched a fundraiser on Facebook to try to help the family. A one year old girl has lost all her clothes and toys.
The American Red Cross is helping residents displaced by the fire.
Firefighters estimated the damages and losses related to the fire to $ 100,000.
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