Firefighters die in collapse
Pair were inspecting store adjacent to warehouse fire
PHILADELPHIA – Two firefighters battling a massive blaze at an abandoned warehouse on Monday were killed when an adjacent furniture store they were inspecting collapsed, burying them in a pile of debris, authorities said.
It took about two hours to extract the bodies of Lt. Robert Neary, 60, and firefighter Daniel Sweeney, 25, because of all the debris, fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said. Two other firefighters were rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of these two firefighters,” Mayor Michael Nutter said. “It just hurts a great, great deal.”
The blaze, in the city’s Kensington section, started around 3:15 a.m. and quickly spread. Dozens of nearby homes were evacuated, and the firefighters were trying to make sure that the blaze was out at the furniture store, where the flames had spread, when a wall and roof collapsed, Ayers said.
Neary, a 37-year veteran of the fire department, served in the Army reserves from 1972 to 1982 and worked as a police officer before joining the fire department. He is survived by his wife, two grown sons and a grown daughter.
He was a mentor to young firefighters like Sweeney and had great instincts while fighting fires, said Timothy McShea, vice president of the firefighters union.
Sweeney, who was single, is survived by his parents. His father is recently retired fire Capt. David Sweeney.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined.
City officials said the warehouse property’s corporate owner, York Street Property Development, had been cited three times since November, and a fourth citation was issued after a March 29 inspection following a community meeting.
Officials said the city was preparing to take the owner to court as required after the first three violations and that, separately, a sheriff’s sale was expected this summer because of unpaid tax and water bills.