Heavy Fire Hits Pechin Street House

Despite substantial property damage, no one was injured after a large fire of indeterminate cause struck a multi-unit residence in Roxborough on September 3.

The fire hit the 4424 Pechin Street building—located on the corner of Conarroe and Pechin streets—at approximately 5:35 p.m., by the reckoning of one of its residents. The Philadelphia Fire Department had the flames out by 7 p.m., but personnel and apparatuses remained at the scene.

The fire was contained to the second and third floors of the three-story building and appears to have originated on the second floor. There is significant damage to the building's exterior.

Ron Prbrinson, a newly-wed who moved into the third-floor unit with his wife just two weeks ago, said that he had just come out of a nap and was watching golf when he smelled smoke. He alerted his wife, who was sleeping, and together they raced down several flights of steps and out of the building. He said the smoke on the second floor was very heavy.

The first floor of the building is not lived in, and the second floor tenants, though visibly shaken, also made it out of the building safely.

As of 7 p.m., Green Lane, Conarroe Street, and Lyceum Avenue were each closed east of Manayunk Avenue.