Fire damages buildings, injures man critically

A four-alarm fire ripped through several buildings and left a man critically injured Friday morning in North Philadelphia, officials said.

Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries battling the blaze that was reported at 2:28 in the 2400 block of North American Street, said Executive Fire Chief Peter Crespo.

The fire originated in a vacant commercial building and spread to a large paper-goods warehouse, Crespo said. The warehouse, which was destroyed, was run by A&D Paper Co.

An unidentified man who was in the vacant building was found just feet away with severe burns over a large portion of his body, Crespo said. The man, whose age was not available, was transported to Temple University Hospital.

"It's currently being investigated as to what he was doing in there," Crespo said.

More than 120 firefighters were deployed on the fire, which was finally put under control at 4:11 a.m.

Late Friday afternoon, crews remained on the scene dousing hot spots. Classes at two nearby schools were dismissed early because of lingering smoke.

The fire damaged four properties. The vacant building, which collapsed during the fire, had an outstanding code violation, according to the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Its owners, Richard and Al Paynter, were cited in 2012 for failure to maintain a vacant-building license on the property.

At the time of the last reported inspection on March 14, the building was properly sealed, according to L&I.