Eight-alarm fire rages in Conshohocken

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.

Firefighters were able to confine the fire in the second apartment building to the upper floors and fought to keep water on an office building on the other side of the destroyed property.

A 6-foot wide bike trail that runs along the river, linking downtown Philadelphia to Valley Forge, turned into a spectator area, giving bikers, neighbors and onlookers a front-row view of the fire.

Ted Bottos, owner of Ted's Place Pizzeria & Restaurant less than a quarter of a mile from the fire, was making hoagies for all the firefighters.

His wife, Peggy, said she and her son could see the fire from their back yard in the 100 block of Spring Mill Avenue, and watched it spread.

"The flames are huge," she said. "It was really horrible. I just hope everybody down there is OK."

Paul DiBona, owner of Pepperoncini Restaurant, 120 yards from the fire, said a woman he knows who lives at the RiverWalk was "sitting on our front step crying. She won't take water. It's horrible."

He said at first people were amazed by the scene. But now it's plain sad. "People are coming for a drink of water, just to get off the streets. It's depresseing."

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, who could see the smoke from the fire from his home in Roxborough, said this type of riverfront fire was particularly difficult to tackle.

The Philadelphia Fire Department was not called to the scene.

Ayers said that in Philadelphia, water mains deadend at the river and fire hydrants at waterfront locations tend to have lower water pressure. "It's a very challenging firefighting moment," Ayers said. "They're up against the size of the fire...and getting water resources together to get in front of the fire."

The massive fire erupted in a section of riverfront that has been transformed in the last five years by O'Neill's development. Once lined with blighted, abandoned factories, O'Neill brought apartment buildings and offices to the water's edge.

T.J. Dougherty, 25, who lives in a fourth-floor apartment of one of the buildings, watched his home burn. "My whole life is in there," he said. "I have nothing left."

His girlfriend, Renee Stanco, 21, was home when the fire broke out next door, had smelled smoke and saw the flames in the construction zone. She grabbed their yorky terrier, Charlie, and left the building.

"I didn't think it was going to be this bad. This is so heartbreaking," said Dougherty, a pharmaceutical representative who could see smoke on his way home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Dougherty just moved to Conshohocken in May, having lived before in Manayunk. He's not sure where he'll stay. He has family in the Poconos and his girlfriend's relatives are in New Jersey, but he is so new to the area that he doesn't know his neighbors.

Mike Puglia, 27, just relocated from Utah to the RiverWalk complex four months ago.

"I was at work in the city, got a call from a neighbor, and hopped on the road and came home. Everyone was outside and the building was already gone by the time I got here."

"It's frustrating to lose all your things," said Puglia, who works for Pinnacle Security. "My jewelry. . . my personal stuff. Photos, things like that."

Asked if he had anything left, he replied: "Nothing, man. No clothes. Nothing. Just the clothes on my back."

He has no family nearby, and didn't know even where he'd spend the night. He hadn't thought that far ahead.

He said he and a few other evacuees were going to "go and hang out at a restaurant. They're bussing everyone to a fire station," but "I don't really feel like being part of a giant group of people."

Joel Altman, 28, grabbed his cello and synthesizer from his apartment in Building 3000 - not far from the fire, but so far spared - and strapped them to his back.

He said he and other musicians hoped to put on a concert for all his displaced neighbors once the firefighters leave.

He pointed out that the developer, O'Neill, always hoped these public spaces would be used for such public concerts - but under better circumstances.

Noting all the TV vans, firefighters, police, specators and shell-shocked residents, he said, "This is the symphony right here."