UPDATED – Tension in Philly: Police break up protest at firehouse after 4 children die in weekend fire
Click here if video above fails to play
CLICK HERE FOR TIMELINE OF FIRE RESPONSE & NEW INFORMATION
More fire news at FireCritic.com
More protest coverage at PhillyFireNews.com
Police were called in to break up a group of nearly 200 people, protesting outside a nearby fire station and the scene of a blaze that claimed the lives of four young children in Southwest Philadelphia.
Riots broke out late Monday afternoon at Ladder 4 Engine 40, shortly after a community meeting at Christ International Baptist Church.
The demonstrators, which shut down Woodland Avenue near 65th Street, even blocked fire crews as they tried to leave and respond to a call.
http://instagram.com/p/qKxN0JMMBR/?modal=true
Into Monday evening, the protesters moved to the scene of the fire.
There were reports of multiple arrests.
Police officers were called earlier in the day to protect Ladder 4 Engine 40. This comes amid reports that threats were made to firefighters.
http://instagram.com/p/qKyXMtsMDe/?modal=true
The protest, which resulted in several clashes and led to a number of arrests, followed an afternoon community meeting at which residents challenged the fire commissioner over how long it took firefighters to respond to Saturday’s devastating early morning fire. Frustration over the Fire Department’s response escalated throughout the evening as the crowd moved from the community meeting to the nearby fire station and then back to the scene of the fire, on the 6500 block of Gesner Street.
Residents, some wearing T-shirts that bore photos of the children, chanted “Liars” outside the fire station. The protest escalated after 7 as a ladder truck apparently tried to move out of the station house. When several people lay down on the street, police moved in and grabbed them by their legs to pull them back.
(Neighbor Keisha) Burgess claims it took fire crews half an hour to arrive at the fire even though Engine 40 is only located about a block away on 65th and Woodland. Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer claims the first response came three minutes after the initial call was made. “When you have an incident like this and the fire is burning, it seems like a lifetime,” Sawyer said. “Three minutes seems like 30 minutes.”
According to Sawyer, the first call came in around 2:45 a.m. as a rubbish fire. After it was upgraded to a house fire, Sawyer says the ladder truck of the Engine 40 firehouse arrived first, about a minute and 46 seconds after the call. The engine truck followed one minute later. “The reason why the Engine Company didn’t respond was because they were already three blocks away fighting an automobile fire,” Sawyer said.
