Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Man killed, father hurt in Northeast Philadelphia fire

The cause of the blaze in Summerdale is under investigation.

Scene after an early morning fire on the 900 block of Foulkrod Street in Northeast Philadelphia let a man dead and his elderly father critically injured.
Scene after an early morning fire on the 900 block of Foulkrod Street in Northeast Philadelphia let a man dead and his elderly father critically injured.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

A fire in a house in Northeast Philadelphia’s Frankford section early Monday left a man dead and his father critically injured. A firefighter also was treated for minor injuries.

The fire on the 900 block of Foulkrod Street was reported about 2:15 a.m. and arriving units reported smoke coming from the second floor before it erupted in flames, the Fire Department said.

Firefighters found the older man on the second floor and rushed him to Temple University Hospital in critical condition, officials said. They found the younger man dead in the rear of the home.

Eric Olsen told 6ABC that the injured man was his 79-year-old father and the man who died was his 58-year-old brother. Olsen said his father “almost didn’t make it,” but was in stable condition after being treated for serious smoke inhalation.

The fire spread to an adjoining twin and the woman who lives there escaped unharmed with her pets.

Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel told reporters at the scene that the house had working smoke detectors that were sounding when firefighters arrived.

The fire was declared under control at 2:51 a.m., the Fire Department said. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Editor’s Note: This story was revised to correct the neighborhood where the fire occurred.