Sunday, 27 Jul 2008
By Robin Taylor
WTXF-Fox 29 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
A deadly fire rips through a row home in the Olney section of Philadelphia.
It happened around 6a.m. Sunday, leaving a mother dead and her infant daughter clinging to life.
It was a really frightening situation. The father had his infant in his arms and was trying to get out, but the fire was too intense.
When he finally got the baby out, it was too late to rescue his fiancé.
This all happened in a row home in the middle of the 200 block of West Nedro Avenue.
Neighbors awoke to screaming and banging on the walls. And then heard their fire alarm blaring.
"When we come out the house, it was all smoke. The house was basically gone," said neighbor Abi Smith.
The row home next door was on fire. A young Cambodian couple and their three-month-old daughter were trapped inside.
"He was on top of the roof and he was holding his baby and he was trying to get one of us to catch the baby, but he was too scared to throw it," said Smith.
And as that was happening, the raging fire spread to three more homes.
"She said get out the house, get out the house, so I immediately ran out the house, like my heart was racing. I was scared. I was overly wound up," said neighbor Roberto Townsend.
The fire department was on its way, but the family that was trapped couldn't wait.
Witnesses say the father climbed out onto the roof over the porch of a house with the infant in his arms. He was too afraid to drop the baby to people below, so he jumped to his next door neighbor's roof and handed him the child and then tried to reach his fiancé.
"We opened the window and he was on the ledge and he said 'Take my baby, there's a fire'," said neighbor James Exum.
The mother made it to a back balcony, but paramedics could not revive her. She died at the scene.
"She couldn't jump. It was too engulfed. There was too much fire. The fire was probably what got to her. She couldn't jump," said Exum.
The couple, who had planned a life together, were supposed to get married in September.
"It's just a real sad day for the family and the baby and the fiancé. It's just sad," said Exum.
The fire department says the father, Leang Thy, signed himself out of the hospital.
The infant is in a hyperbaric chamber at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Two other families are now homeless.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
It happened around 6a.m. Sunday, leaving a mother dead and her infant daughter clinging to life.
It was a really frightening situation. The father had his infant in his arms and was trying to get out, but the fire was too intense.
When he finally got the baby out, it was too late to rescue his fiancé.
This all happened in a row home in the middle of the 200 block of West Nedro Avenue.
Neighbors awoke to screaming and banging on the walls. And then heard their fire alarm blaring.
"When we come out the house, it was all smoke. The house was basically gone," said neighbor Abi Smith.
The row home next door was on fire. A young Cambodian couple and their three-month-old daughter were trapped inside.
"He was on top of the roof and he was holding his baby and he was trying to get one of us to catch the baby, but he was too scared to throw it," said Smith.
And as that was happening, the raging fire spread to three more homes.
"She said get out the house, get out the house, so I immediately ran out the house, like my heart was racing. I was scared. I was overly wound up," said neighbor Roberto Townsend.
The fire department was on its way, but the family that was trapped couldn't wait.
Witnesses say the father climbed out onto the roof over the porch of a house with the infant in his arms. He was too afraid to drop the baby to people below, so he jumped to his next door neighbor's roof and handed him the child and then tried to reach his fiancé.
"We opened the window and he was on the ledge and he said 'Take my baby, there's a fire'," said neighbor James Exum.
The mother made it to a back balcony, but paramedics could not revive her. She died at the scene.
"She couldn't jump. It was too engulfed. There was too much fire. The fire was probably what got to her. She couldn't jump," said Exum.
The couple, who had planned a life together, were supposed to get married in September.
"It's just a real sad day for the family and the baby and the fiancé. It's just sad," said Exum.
The fire department says the father, Leang Thy, signed himself out of the hospital.
The infant is in a hyperbaric chamber at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Two other families are now homeless.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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