'Blowtorch' winds fan fire, killing 1 in NE apartments

Some residents of an apartment complex in Northeast Philadelphia hit by a fatal fire in the early-morning hours of New Year's Day were permitted to return later yesterday to recover personal papers and clothing.

The four-alarm fire, which gutted or damaged about half the units of the three-story, 62-unit building on Benson Street near Bustleton Avenue, broke out shortly after midnight and was brought under control at about 2:30 a.m., authorities said.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said that the city's fire marshal had not determined the cause of the fire, which claimed the life of a woman in her 70s. Her name was withheld until relatives could be notified.

Seven residents, two firefighters and a cop suffered minor injuries.

Ayers said that when firefighters arrived on the scene some residents were hanging out their windows. He said that howling winds acted as a "blowtorch" that fed the flames.

Many of the 100 residents left homeless by the blaze were Russian immigrants and spoke little or no English, said Donna Palmieri, an official with the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross. She is coordinating the agency's relief efforts.

She said that the agency had to bring in translators to assist in the relief efforts.

Palmieri said that the residents' stories were heart-rending.

One woman emerged from her apartment with a small plastic bag under her arm secured by a rubber band. "My documents! My documents!" Palmieri said the woman cried.

Palmieri said that the Red Cross had provided food and clothing to some of the displaced residents at a temporary shelter set up at the Lewis H. Farrell Elementary School, on Castor Avenue near Hoffnagle Street.

Red Cross volunteers met yesterday with most of the displaced residents, many of whom escaped the fire with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, Palmieri said. *