By Valerie Russ
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — Firefighters rescued three youngsters — two teenagers and a toddler — from a fire in a Strawberry Mansion rowhouse early yesterday after two other teens escaped on their own, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.
One teenage boy jumped from a second-floor front room, but did not suffer injuries. A second teen managed to walk out of the house, on 30th Street near Cumberland. But firefighters had to rescue the three other occupants from a second-floor rear window, Ayers said.
The one-alarm fire was reported at 2:27 a.m. yesterday and was brought under control by 2:45 a.m., the commissioner said.
“When firefighters got there, there was heavy smoke, and neighbors were yelling there were people trapped inside the house,” Ayers said.
After rescuing the teens and toddler, paramedics treated them for smoke inhalation before taking them to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.
By yesterday afternoon, all had been upgraded to stable condition.
There were a total of five people in the house, all teenagers, except the toddler.
The department determined that the fire had started in a faulty refrigerator, the commissioner added.
Several companies, Ladder 14, Engines 34, 27 and 50 responded to the blaze and Ladder 25 assisted as a rapid-intervention team to support the other firefighters.
“The firefighters did a great job containing the fire damage, which was mostly smoke damage,” Ayers said.
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