ann, again, we just heard from officials a few minutes ago. what else did we find out about this fire? well, this a a building that has two apartments, craig. there is a lower unit and an upper unit. and fire officials said that the fire they found heavy fire this morning in the kitchen area of the upper unit. and that is on the second floor of this building. and that fire was near a stairwell, and that fire went up and down that stairwell. that s how it spread so quickly. they said they had no problem getting to people. the problem was the fire just moved so fast and was so strong. there were four smoke detecters in this building. none of them worked. there were also 26 people in the building. and as fire officials said, that s a lot of people to be in a duplex. eight people in the lower unit. 18 people in the upper unit. as you said, seven children are among the 13 people who are
street. you know the circumstances of each and every family, and maybe they were relatives or people that needed to be sheltered. obviously the tragedy happened, and we all mourn for it, but we can t make judgment on the number of people living in a house, because sometimes people just need to be indoors. reporter: obviously there s a problem with the smoke detecters. our people will figure that out and make recommendations and issue a report. reporter: chief, do you know how many exits there were of that house besides the front door? any other way to get out? other than the front door and the rear entrance, because of the odd configuration of the house, all i know of is two exits. reporter: you said there were smoke detector inspections in 2019 and 2021. why none in 2021? i wouldn t have the answer to that. let me be painfully clear that we re in the process of
detecters in that building or fire safety equipment? there were four smoke detecters in that building, and none of them operated. reporter: none of them operated at all? can you confirm this was a pha philadelphia owned home? absolutely it was. reporter: are you aware of any inspections? there was an inspection done by the fafl ya housing authority in 2019. they installed four smoke detecters. there was another inspection in 2020. when they inspected they installed two smoke detecters. reporter: in 2020 there were six working smoke detecters? according to pha, yes. reporter: how many children, how many children? remember the number is dynamic right now. as of what we know, seven children.
and the third floor. i don t have the words for how we re a community and as a department. we also transported the philadelphia fire department ems transported two other occupants, burn to children s hospital. obviously a child. and then the other to temple university hospital. so as of right now, the fire marshall along with the atf like i mentioned before are in the process of doing a thorough investigation of this terrible event. do you have evidence of smoke
one is when the state permits it in 2004 they don t have to identify local authorities. so their inspection company is dhs, department of human services. the other loophole is when they inspect they basically inspect just for cleanliness. they don t inspect for smoke detecters or anything of that nature. i had a conversation with a representative from dhs yesterday. i expressed my displeasure and instructed her the city wants the addresses of every day care within the city limits they inspect, and they delivered through on that yesterday afternoon. that is good to know. just a reminder for all of us right now who are watching at home, just on a practical level, what do we need for smoke detecters? what should be in someone s house just to make sure if there is a fire they can handle it safely until help arrives? well, in the city we started an inspection program where we