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Firefighters from all across the Pennsylvania suburbs raced to Conshohocken this evening to stop a massive eight-alarm fire that consumed an unoccupied luxury apartment house, before spreading to four other waterfront properties.
One firefighter who suffered from smoke inhalation and a young woman who collapsed were taken to Chestnut Hill Hospital.
The fire broke out at 4:30 p.m. at the RiverWalk at Millennium complex on the Schuykill. The high-end development, a catalyst in the revival of the once-blighted Conshohocken riverfront, was built by developer Brian O'Neill.
O'Neill was on the scene of the fire, handing out bottles of water to firefighters.
He looked disheveled in his white shirt and black pants. Asked about the fire, he said he would have no comment until he figured out what was going on.
O'Neill has offered to put up displaced residents in nearby hotels.
Firefighters called the emergency an "unusually large fire," and one of the largest seen in the county in recent years.
The original fire spread to another apartment building with "many, many senior citizens," said Tom Sullivan, the public safety director for Montgomery County. He said everyone had been evacuated.
Because the buildings border the river and railroad track, "access is challenged," Sullivan said. "They're working through it, and have been cutting down fencing."
He said the first building to go up in flames did not have completed fire protection.
Sullivan said the borough has a limited water supply, which it is trying to overcome with supplies from other water companies and lots of hose. "They're making very good progress," he said.
He noted that the fire broke out in what used to be an industrial area with limited firefighting infrastructure.
Residents living near the fire were pouring into the Pepperoncini Restaurant & Bar at 72 Poplar St., a tenth of a mile from the riverwalk complex.
Many were too distraught to talk, said bartender Michael McKenna, who saw the fire grow into a menacing mountain of flames.
"We saw some smoke from the new building that was under construction, and then we saw flames coming out of the windows and then all of a sudden the whole thing went up before we could even call 911," McKenna said.
"I got a couple of residents here, people who were evacuated," McKenna said. "They're in shock. I believe honestly I think they're all going to go up."
Ten fire companies from as far away as North Penn and Flourtown responded to the call.
SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney says all service on the R6-Norristown was suspended shortly after 5 p.m. and is likely to remain suspended all night, as the Conshohocken station is only about a block from the fire scene.
He was unaware of any bus re-routings or other transit impacts.
State Police said the Conshohocken exit of the Schuylkill Expressway remained open, but traffic through the borough of 7,000 was jammed.
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