The monthly community meeting with 18th District police officers, which usually takes place at the Calvary Center at 48th and Baltimore, will be held in Clark Park (43rd and Baltimore) tonight, beginning at 6 p.m. As always, Lt. Brian McBride and Sgt. Ron Washington of the University City Division of the Philadelphia 18th Police District will be there to answer your questions and hear your concerns and discuss crime in the area and other neighborhood issues.

Residents are also invited to meet police officers who work in the neighborhood during a public Police Roll Call at the park. Last month Cedar Park residents got a chance to meet and greet 18th District police officers at the public outdoor roll call (see photo below).

Photo by Algernong Allen.

UPDATE 3 (8/15/13): NBC10 reports that the cause of the fire at the New Horizons building at 48th and Trinity was arson. Fire brigades previously responded to the building for other suspicious fires, about five in the past year and two in the past month, according to neighbors.

UPDATE 2 (11:00 p.m.) We have received the following update from the Red Cross:

“Residents living on the affected 2nd floor will be provided lodging by the management company. Residents on other floors are allowed back into their homes, but anyone who decides not to stay, because of the lack of doors, will be assisted by the Red Cross with a place to stay. Responders on the scene are now determining how many people are choosing not to stay in their units.”

The Red Cross was assisting 28 people displaced by tonight’s fire with snacks, water, and blankets. The primary issue is that many apartments don’t have doors on them. Red Paw Relief members assisted with 11 cats and one rat.

UPDATE (9:30 p.m.): Red Paw Relief was on the scene to assist residents with their pets. Residents are waiting outside to learn whether they will be allowed back in the building tonight or put in a hotel by the building management.

A fire that broke out this evening at the New Horizons apartment building located on the 1000 block of 48th Street forced residents to jump out windows in an effort to escape the blaze. The fire reportedly started on the second floor of the building around 6:15 p.m. and some apartments sustained smoke damage.

Witnesses saw some residents jumping out windows in the back of the building. One of the people who jumped, a woman, was taken to the hospital with back pain, according to CBS Philly. Another person was taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. The fire is currently under investigation.

On-scene at the 1000 blk S.48th St apt fire assisting a resident w/her cat. pic.twitter.com/86I6o4hFG7

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 14, 2013

1 cat pulled from bldg on its way to @pennvet w/possible smoke inhalation. Thanks for the blanket @RedCrossPhilly pic.twitter.com/FuJdaBGB64

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 14, 2013

On-scene w/ @RedCrossPhilly pic.twitter.com/aP6bhCNfoZ

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 15, 2013

Breakdown of cats at @pennvet 1 w/smoke inhalation, 1 w/burns, 1 jumped from 2nd floor.

— Red Paw Relief Team (@RedPawRelief) August 15, 2013

Twitter photo by Annamarya Scaccia.

As the end of the summer is approaching fast, the city has announced that it would start closing outdoor public pools beginning this week. Some pools may have closed even earlier as we noticed that the Shepard pool at 57th and Haverford was already drained out Monday morning. Other pools will stay open until the end of next week. By the way, the sprayground at 48th and Woodland will stay open until September 1.

Here’s the schedule for closings of the pools located in West Philly and vicinity:

Tuesday, Aug 13 – Baker (5431-43 Lansdowne Ave.), Tustin (5901-29 W. Columbia Avenue)
Friday, Aug 16 – Mill Creek (743-81 N. 48th Street)
Monday, Aug 19 – Lee (4328 Haverford Avenue), Myers (5800 Chester Avenue)
Wednesday, Aug 21 – O’Connor (2601 South Street)
Friday, Aug 23 – Kelly (4231 North Concourse Drive), Sayre (5835 Spruce Street)

A few months ago we wrote about a wild turkey roaming around West Philly streets, which caused a massive response from our readers and the story even got picked up by citywide media. The West Philly turkey became famous and started its own Twitter account.

While sightings of wild critters around here are not that rare, with periodic accounts of raccoons or opossums in folks’ backyards or near garbage containers, we haven’t heard a lot of stories about groundhogs in the hood. A neighbor, Bill, who lives near 49th and Springfield, spotted this cute fella earlier today after his dog, Oliver, chased it up on the fence in his backyard. Bill’s daughter Margie snapped the photo below. Bill, thanks again to Oliver, was one of the first neighbors who spotted the West Philly turkey.

Photo by Margie Sanderson.

Photo by West Philly Local reader Joel DeGrands.

Many residents who live near 46th and Spruce streets were awoken this morning by a car crash and witnessed a flipped SUV lying on its side in the middle of 46th Street and the driver talking to police. Reportedly, the car hit two others in the crash and a total of four cars were damaged. The accident happened shortly after 7 a.m. We’re trying to get more information and hope that no one was injured.

The new school year is scheduled to start in a month, Sept. 9 (fingers crossed that the budget crisis is resolved soon) and there are some efforts in the area to help many local families get ready. So far we’ve heard of two school supply drives to help West Philly families with school children. If you know of more school supply collections/drives, please drop us an email (editor@westphillylocal.com) or leave a comment below.

ACHIEVEability’s Backpack and Book Donation Drive

Photo courtesy ACHIEVEability.

You can help ACHIEVEability to support more than 250 school-age youth and community residents by donating to their Backpack and Book Donation Drive. If donating a backpack please consider including the following school supplies: spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, composition books, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, calculators, pencil sharpeners, glue, etc. If donating a new or gently used book, please ensure that it is appropriate reading material for school age children (K-12).

Donations for the backpack and book donation drive can be delivered to ACHIEVEability’s administrative office located at 35 N. 60th Street (between Market and Arch Streets). If you have questions, please contact ACHIEVEability Events Manager Brian Hoskins at brian.hoskins@achieveability.org or 215-748-8814.

Penn School Supply Drive

Through Friday, Aug. 16, multiple locations across the University of Pennsylvania campus will serve as drop-off points for the Penn Volunteers in Public Service’s annual back-to-school drive.

The school supply drive collects basic back-to-school items such as binders, dividers, dictionaries, staplers, glue, tape, calculators, crayons, pencils, pens, paper, rulers, notebooks, book covers, markers, folders, lunch boxes or bags, school bags or backpacks, umbrellas and blank CDs or DVDs. The preference is for new items, but they would also accept “gently used” items like book bags (they have to be in really good condition).

The supplies will be distributed to nearby schools, after-school programs and other organizations in West Philadelphia. One of the schools in West Philadelphia that will receive a portion of the collection is the Henry C. Lea Elementary School.

There are a lot of drop-off locations, so please check out this link for more information.