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 Fire damaged several row homes under construction early Monday in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.
Residents woke up to a flickering glow of lights outside their windows and what initially sounded like the patter of rain.
"I went into my bathroom, and it was all just awash in this orange glow," said Chris Payne.
"We heard, like, crackling," said Bernadette Pitts. "It sounded like rain. That's what we thought it was. Then all of a sudden we heard the fire."
It was 4:30 a.m. Monday. The brand new row homes along 20th and Wharton were on fire.
Several of the buildings were still in the early stages of construction. Five had been completed.
ow flames were ripping through them and quickly spreading.
"You could look out the back of it, and you could see the fire leaping like 20 to 30 feet in the air," said Payne.
"Anywhere else in the country this would have gone to five alarms, and the entire block would have been involved in fire," said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel. "But here was a quick, aggressive fire attack."