Investigators pick through ruins after Pennsylvania senior center fire

in #news7 years ago

 It could be several days before investigators can pick through the ruins of a Pennsylvania senior living home structure to ensure no one was trapped inside, according to media reports Saturday.Authorities said they have accounted for the 160 residents who were at the center when a massive blaze destroyed it two days ago. “No one at this point came forward and said we can’t account for a loved one,” Charlene Hennessy, a spokeswoman for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) said Friday afternoon, according to the Daily Local News in West Chester, Penn.The cause of the blaze has not been determined. Dozens of investigators are converging on the scene. 

 ATF Special Agent in Charge Don Robinson said there were no confirmed deaths, the Daily Local News reported. “We’re still trying to account for everybody before we make a final determination,” he said. The ATF is helping to investigate the blaze.The structure remains too dangerous for investigators to thoroughly go through debris to ensure no one was trapped in the structure when the fire started Thursday night.Authorities said 27 people were treated for injuries, but a number of those have since been released from hospitals.Dozens of neighbors rushed to help with the rescue at the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community in West Chester, wrapping the elderly in blankets and carrying some of them to ambulances in makeshift gurneys, according to the Associated Press.Some of the residents were taken to a shelter set up at a nearby college.The fire triggered a massive response, involving 200 firefighters who rushed to the scene, helping to rescue residents and extinguish the raging blaze. 



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