SUNBURY — Saturday’s fatal fire at a Sunbury high rise was an “eye-opener,” says Sunbury’s Fire Chief Ken Kipple. He says emergency crews are often called to area apartment buildings for minor fires, but unfortunately, this time was different.
“It was definitely an eye opener, realizing that it wasn’t just that somebody burnt something on their stove or microwave. All of our crews had an eye opening experience,” Kipple said. “It was obviously a tragedy, but the building is well designed and I think everyone involved did a wonderful job. The people who own and work in the building, city police and all the various fire companies and everybody were wonderful.”
Kipple says the emergency response was fast. He said a Sunbury Housing Authority employee had reacted first to knock down the fire, and volunteer fire fighters took it from there.
Kipple said, “Because of the demographic of the tenants in that facility, most of them are elderly or have some sort of a mobility issue, a lot of them just could not negotiate the stairs. Fire fighters were carrying people in their arms, on their shoulders and in their wheel chairs down the up to ten flights of stairs. It was very labor intensive, but we had enough man-power and they did a wonderful job.”
Saturday’s fire at Scott Tower was reported around 3:30p.m. 32-year-old Hernan Feliciano died in the fire which started in his apartment on the second floor. The fire has been ruled accidental, but the exact cause has not yet been determined. (Codi Jade)