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Four people, including two children, died in an early-morning fire that broke out in a rowhome at 5250 Chancellor Street. The children, 2 and 4 years old, died at Children’s Hospital where they were transported with severe burns. The other victims are the children’s mother, 23-year-old Rishya Jenkins and grandfather, Seneca McClendon, 75, a retired postal worker known as Mr. Chuck, Philly.com reports.

The fire was reported about 4:42 a.m. and declared under control at 5:23 a.m. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said “firefighters found nothing to indicate there were working smoke detectors in the rowhouse.” The fire apparently broke out on the first floor and its cause is under investigation.
 

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Reader Chelsea believes she was pressured into switching energy providers by door-to-door salesmen and wants other residents to be aware of this possible scam. Here’s what she wrote us in an email:

“I thought other West Philadelphians should be made aware of door-to-door salesmen who try to scam you into switching energy companies. Some people seem to know about this company already, but for people who are new to the area, like me, it seemed believable.

There were two well-dressed young men going door to door in my neighborhood (Spruce Hill area) from Direct Energy. They represented themselves as belonging to the parent agency of my electric provider and asked to look at my PECO bill to make sure that I was getting the newly-lowered rate customers in this area are supposed to be getting, since there was an “error” and “some customers were accidentally getting overcharged and hadn’t properly fixed it on their bills.” They claimed this “fixing” would be greatly expedited if they did it for me. They then called their managers to, in their words, make sure the new discount was applied to my bill, and then had me sign something and write down my account number. They quickly left before I could read the fine print of what I signed, but I looked it up afterwards and realized they completely misrepresented their affiliation: they are in no way affiliated with PECO, but are a competitor company.

What they do is take your information from PECO and use it to change over your energy provider to them. I don’t know if their company is any better or any worse, but people should be able to make their own decisions and not get pressured by this misinformation. If anyone else signed the form (as I did) they can call the company within three business days to cancel.”

 
A car traveling eastbound entered the trolley tunnel at 40th and Baltimore on Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. and caused a temporary disruption of service when routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 were put on diversion, according to SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. SEPTA riders using those routes could take the trolleys as far as 40th Street, then transfer to the Market-Frankford Line to continue their trip, which is customary when there is a disruption to service in the tunnel.

The fire department, police and SEPTA personnel were called to the scene. The vehicle was removed, and the tracks and other infrastructure were inspected for any potential damage. No problems were found, and service was restored at approximately 12:15 p.m.

The police didn’t identify the driver since there was no collision involving the vehicle and SEPTA trolleys and there were no injuries reported.

The crazy thing is that this happens kind of frequently.

“It’s not that uncommon,” said police spokesperson Tanya Little.

Thanks to the joint efforts of several community organizations and over 300 volunteers, residents of the 3800 block of Aspen Street in Mantua are getting their homes improved and their block beautified.

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The volunteers and vendors, who are providing repairs to 20 homeowners on the block and working on greening and beautifying the block, will get together this Saturday, March 31, at the Green Block Party Open House. The open house will be held from 10:00 a.m.- noon and will include the house tours to see improvements in progress. There will also be an opportunity to learn more about healthy homes, meet the program partners, and hear local leaders and residents speak. Update: If it’s raining the open house will be held at the Mantua Community Improvement Committee building, 619 N. 35th Street – between Mt. Vernon and Haverford.

The project is carried out by the Green Block Build Collaborative, a coalition of community organizations including Philadelphia LISC, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, The Partnership CDC, and a wide variety of other community partners. It is also supported by Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.

The Green Block Build strategy is to improve low-income households, block-by-block, house-by-house by building on the strengths of each partner organization. Each home on the block will receive multiple critical repairs or energy efficiency upgrades, energy assessments, education around home health issues, and financial education. Other home improvements include the installation of green and cool roofs, rain barrel installation, the removal of allergy and asthma triggers such as mold and dampness, weatherization improvements, and overall greening.

The projects are designed to specifically meet the needs of each homeowner. For example, one homeowner with physical handicaps will receive repairs to his home that make the bathroom, backyard, and other rooms more handicap-accessible.

Once the renovations are complete, Drexel University will conduct an analysis of the program’s impact.

“Lord have mercy, we’ll enjoy living in our neighborhood again!” said Barbara Hall, the block captain, when she learned about the Green Block Build Program, “This has given me so much hope.”

See more, including photos, on Plan Philly.

 
Several heavily damaged vehicles remained along the eastbound lane of the 4700 block of Spruce Street this afternoon after an early morning accident that sent a SEPTA bus careening out of control and into a row of parked cars.

A westbound Route 42 bus collided with an SUV that ran a red light at 47th and Spruce at about 4 a.m., according to 6ABC. The driver, who along with four others was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for “non-life threatening” injuries, lost control of the bus. The collision pushed the bus into a tree and nearby parked cars. About a dozen cars in all were damaged.

The accident is under investigation.