Large fire in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood burns for hours

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]An early morning fire also in a large building in Kensington at E Street and Kensington Avenue. It is still burning 12 hours later. Fire Chief says that it could have spread quickly into the nearby car lot had they not attacked the flames right away. CBS News Philadelphia reporter Liz Crawford has been on the scene all day. Liz, you've been out there. You're joining us now with the very latest on what you found out about this fire.

[00:00:28]Natasha, it's been a long day for fire crews. Even though this fire has been under control since 7:30 this morning, there are still hot spots in the interior of that building that firefighters can't safely get to. And that's why Peco crews are here prepping wires ahead of a wrecking crew that is expected to clear the way so firefighters can reach those flames.

[00:00:53]The call came in as a garage fire around 4:00 Friday morning at Kensington Avenue and E Street. Initial companies got on scene and saw heavy fire from the first floor and billowing heavy smoke from the second floor. Firefighters quickly realized the building was not structurally safe to be inside and they started attacking the flames from the exterior.

[00:01:14]There's a fire going on.

[00:01:17]Uh that that's my car. Henry Sedeno lives right across the street from where the fire broke out. He says he couldn't get to work because his car was blocked in by emergency responders. He was worried the fire could spread to his house. A whole bunch of firefighters, flames, smoke, just hitting the house.

[00:01:36]And one thing about if you live on Philadelphia, smoke always enters your house, especially when you have a fire next door or across the street.

[00:01:44]>> Fire officials say the building was vacant and there have been no reported injuries. Although the call came in as a garage fire, it's still unclear what the building was being used for. A A chief believes it was most recently a church.

[00:01:58]Early on firefighters created what they're calling a collapse zone around the building and people in that zone were told to evacuate.

[00:02:10]Now no word on the cause of the fire just yet. The fire marshal has been out here investigating. Now right now firefighters all around here just continue to be in a holding pattern waiting on that demolition crew which could potentially knock down the side of that building so they can reach those interior hot spots. In Kensington, Liz Crawford, CBS News, Philadelphia.

[00:02:31]>> A whole lot going on. Liz, thank you.