2 firefighters injured battling Queen Village blaze

QUEEN VILLAGE - October 3, 2012 (WPVI) -- Two firefighters were injured while battling a blaze in the Queen Village section of Philadelphia.

The fire broke out just before 6:00 p.m. at a three-story house in the 300 block of Monroe Street.

"Once the firefighters came and they broke the windows open, the flames were shooting out of the house and it was pretty scary," Queen Village resident Crystal Robbins said.

A family of nine lives in the home and everyone inside made it out without any injuries.

"That's the good news. The bad news, in our efforts to effect rescue and fight the fire, two firefighters were injured," Philadelphia Fire Department Battalion Chief Asa Grimes said.

One firefighter fell three stories onto his back while another suffered smoke inhalation.

Both were taken to nearby Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Amazingly, firefighters were able to get a handle on the fire within minutes of getting onto the scene.

Heavy smoke not only filled the streets of this South Philadelphia community, it spread into several neighboring homes.

Many of those families got into their houses late this evening to check out the damage.

"There's a lot of smoke and it smells horrible and we're probably going to live somewhere else for the next couple of night because it stinks so bad but we have to figure all that out," neighbor Chris Utterback said.

But Chris is mainly concerned with his nine neighbors who are out of a home.

The homeowner who was too upset to speak on camera told Action News he's lived in the house for 60 years.

"I feel terrible for the guy. He's been here for 60 years, great guy. It's just sad," Utterback said.

The Red Cross is helping the nine people displaced by the fire.

The fire was placed under control at 6:33 p.m.

The cause remains under investigation.

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