by Alex Lloyd Gross
Firefighters in Philadelphia had to deal with a lot of problems during an early morning fire on State Road, just south of Cottman Avenue. The building, reported to be an auto warehouse sits back off of the 6700 block of State Road. It’s not right on State Road, but a quarter mile down narrow driveway. That was the first issue, apparatus could not all fit down there. The business was reported to be the Orthodox Auto Company.
With a lot of fire trucks staged on State Road and manpower advanced to the fire, the second problem was getting enough water. Officials said that the fire boats were put into service to help bring a water supply to the building.
The fire was reported just after 4:00 AM. First in companies had heavy smoke. By 5:10 AM, the 5th Alarm was struck. This fire would extend into rush hour traffic and with the Delaware Expressway closed at Bridge Street due to construction, fire apparatus had an extended response time. Officials at the scene said the building was closed for the night and there were no people inside the warehouse when the fire happened.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Delaware Valley News.com Firefighters at the scene of the building fire on State Road.
ATF agents were seen alongside the Fire Marshal’s personnel to find out what happened and what the cause was. There were no injuries reported.
By rush hour, police had State Road open to nearby businesses and as more fire trucks would leave the scene, more roads could be opened up. Firefighters had extended the supply line of heavy water lines for about a quarter mile at the height of the fire.