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Fire and at least one person in custody near 45th and Walnut

February 17, 2011

10:14 p.m. The fire heavily damaged the third and fourth floors at 4500 Walnut St. Saad’s Halal Restaurant is on the ground floor of the building. We talked to Saad at the scene and he said his place has sustained heavy water damage. The Southeastern PA chapter of the Red Cross is reporting that 12 of the 15 apartment units in the building were destroyed. The Red Cross is currently providing assistance to 30 people displaced by the fire. Three people, including one firefighter, were reportedly taken to the hospital.

8:19 p.m. The fire has been extinguished and there have been no injuries, according to a fire official on the scene who asked not to be named. The fire began in a fourth floor apartment in a four-floor building on the southwest corner of 45th and Walnut. Firefighters heard an explosion from the apartment at one point. It is still unclear why the man in the video was handcuffed. Police on the scene would not comment.

7:20 p.m. A multi-alarm fire is burning near the corner of 45th and Market Streets. The fire appears to be south of Saad’s restaurant at the corner of 45th and Walnut. One man was pulled from the building, down a ladder and handcuffed. Police have taken over the scene and could supply no information on the fire or the arrest. At least one other person was pulled from the building and placed on a stretcher.

The area around the fire was quickly declared a crime scene with multiple police units responding, including plain clothes police. The fire itself was not visible from 45th street. It appeared to be in a low-rise building one or two doors south of Saad’s.


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2 Comments For This Post

  1. Rich Anderson Says:

    SHIT! That’s too close to home for comfort. (I live right on the other side of Locust…)

  2. jes Says:

    Honestly, and this is based on a single viewing of the arrest clip, this guy looks either high on drugs/drink and/or mentally challenged. He doesn’t look to be in the best health, he’s combattive but not very effective, and he looks more confused than anything else. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a tenant who, upon realizing there was a fire, wasn’t entirely sure what to do. When he was then helped out of his house by strangers coming into the window, he panicked and didn’t want to go. And b/c it was a rescue operation and other lives were at stake, they had to pull him out (though does the person pulling him out look to be a first responder? It almost looks like a passerby or maybe a neighbor in the building or even a roommate?), which took a while and endangered other people, so they arrested him. I can’t imagine him being responsible for anything other than freaking out and not wanting to be pulled out of his house.

    That’s my take, anyway.

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