Crime & Safety

Boy Jumps From House in East Minor Street Fire, Say Authorities

The Norristown Fire Department brought the two-alarm fire under control.

Fire spread through several houses in Norristown in a two-alarm fire on Saturday afternoon, where a 17-year-old jumped from a third story window.

According to Norristown Fire Chief Thomas M. O’Donnell, the Norristown Fire Department was dispatched around 2:37 p.m. to 268 East Minor Street to respond to a house fire, which, he said, spread in both directions to the six houses attached to it, damaging seven houses in total.

The 17-year old boy who jumped from a third-floor bedroom was airlifted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he said.

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A bedridden woman was taken from one of the buildings to the hospital, but, authorities say, she was fine, according to 6abc.com.

One bystander, a local resident, had been on his way to the store when he saw the fire. “I saw just the first three buildings and then I saw it spread like wildfire,” he said. 

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The post-snowfall weather was not optimal. “It was difficult getting here in the road conditions,” O’Donnell told Patch.

When the firefighters arrived at 268 East Minor Street the second and third floors were in flames. The fire was brought under control and, around 6 p.m., personnel were checking to make sure that the fire had not extended itself into walls, floors and other places.  

A running SEPTA bus was parked on the street, for fire department personnel to enter and keep warm.

According to O’Donnell, the cause of the fire had not yet been determined, and a representative from the Montgomery County Office of the District Attorney was on scene, as well as fire investigators.

 

 


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