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2 dead in South Philadelphia house fire

Two people were killed in a South Philadelphia rowhouse fire early Thursday and a police officer was injured trying to rescue them, fire officials said.

A family friend stands at the scene of a fire that killed two people on Daly Street in South Philadelphia on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff)
A family friend stands at the scene of a fire that killed two people on Daly Street in South Philadelphia on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff)Read more

Two people were killed in a South Philadelphia rowhouse fire early Thursday and a police officer was injured trying to rescue them, fire officials said.

The fire on the 400 block of Daly Street was reported at 1:23 a.m., officials said. Companies had arrived on the scene by 1:27, Fire Department spokesman Chief Clifford Gilliam said, and entered the house shortly afterward.

Inside, they found the bodies of a man and a woman in their 60s. Gilliam would not identify them, but residents on the block said their first names were Mickey and Marsha.

The blaze was under control by 1:44 a.m., Gilliam said. The cause is still under investigation.

Residents on the street said they were awakened by cries of "Fire!" and the sounds of crackling and snapping wood. Allen Ferreri, who lives next door to the victims' house, said a neighbor banged on his door to alert him and his fiancee. The two rushed outside and watched the fire explode through the first-floor windows, with flames rising as high as the second floor.

"The fire blew the windows out - there were flames shooting all over," said Alan West, who lives two doors down.

A police officer responding to the blaze saw the man near the front door inside the house, Ferreri said, and tried to open the door to rescue him. He burned his hand on the handle and tried to use his shoulder to break down the door, but was unsuccessful, Ferreri said.

Fire officials said it appeared the home had no working smoke alarms. On Thursday afternoon, firefighters installed smoke alarms in houses in the immediate vicinity and distributed "home fire safety checklists" to residents, Gilliam said in a statement.

The victims are the second and third people to die in fires in Philadelphia so far in 2015. In July, their block was the site of an explosion in an empty house undergoing renovations that killed one and injured eight.