UPDATE: So I was watching the local news and they said that this fire burned as hot as 6000 degrees. And then there were all the heart wrenching stories of people reunited with pets, and people who lost their pets. Stories of people just moving in the day of the fire, people out of town for business or pleasure and getting phone calls in essence saying "your home is on t.v. burning to the ground". Of course, I also saw a woman on t.v. I remember vaguely from high school - we knew people in common and went to different schools. No we never hung out as friends, but to see a familiar face in the midst of tragedy and it makes me doubly sad.
I just can't imagine. I wonder if there is a way we can give extra stuff we may not be using in our homes to these people? Even things like dog and cat supplies. Clothes? They might be strangers, but that could happen to anyone. Maybe Pennsylvania will take a fresh look at new construction requirements? After all with so many of these places having "flex space", there is no such thing as firewalls, really. And maybe Pennsylvania will take a look at what renters put up with? After all, with this building and considering it was the concept of Brian O'Neill, those renters should get a lot of help from him since he basically prints his own money (or I would hope he would be extra helpful), but what of others who are in fires? This was matchstick construction - some block on the bottom, but mostly frame construction- as in wooden frames....large wooden arks in essence. Could more have been done? Anyway, please feel free to send photos in and here is a great set on flickr someone sent me a link to.
In the end, there are no words...only lots of questions. How could a fire like this happen? Was it an accident? How are all the hundreds of homeless people? What about the pets that didn't get out? If construction is supposed to be so updated and fabulous, why did this go up like a building made of popsicle sticks? Conshohocken sure has it's share of fires, huh?
Dramatic Conshohocken fire routs hundreds
By DAFNEY TALES
Philadelphia Daily News
talesd@phillynews.com 215-854-5084
As he, his mother and sister were in the process of moving him into his new fourth-floor apartment in the Riverwalk at Millennium apartment complex in Conshohocken, they were suddenly aware of intense heat.
"I went to the window and looked out and the building next door was in flames," said Muldoon. The wind, he said, was blowing in his direction.
Fortunately, Muldoon and all the other tenants of the luxury complex escaped unharmed yesterday when what developed into an eight-alarm fire started in a building being constructed next door and spread rapidly. The building under construction was destroyed and four or five neighboring buildings were damaged, displacing all 375 residents, said Montgomery County's public-safety director.
More than 300 firefighters from all over Montgomery County battled the flames, which roared spectacularly into the evening sky, drawing the curious from a wide area. By 10:30 p.m., the fire that began 5 1/2 hours earlier was under control, Conshohocken fire officials said.
Late into the night, firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water on pockets of the complex that were still burning.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 14, 2008
Fire destroys Conshohocken apartment complex
By Diane Mastrull, Jennifer Lin and Bob Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers
Developer J. Brian O'Neill dreamed of bringing people back to the banks of the Schuylkill in Conshohocken. And yesterday, they came by the thousands - to watch in horror as his vision went up in flames.
This morning, fire trucks were still on the scene as embers from the buildings smoldered. Firefighters napped on the sidwalks littered with debris and water bottles.
Six riverfront buildings that O'Neill developed, including the Riverwalk at Millennium, were ravaged by an eight-alarm blaze: Three were destroyed, three damaged.
More than 300 firefighters from all corners of Montgomery County battled the spectacular fire, which raged for about six hours before crews got the upper hand about 10:30 p.m. Even so, firefighters were to remain overnight to douse hot spots.
From emergency workers to newly homeless residents, few could grasp how swiftly the flames turned a redevelopment showpiece with a clubhouse and courtyard into a smoldering disaster zone. At least 125 apartment units, housing 375 people, were destroyed.
Blaze still smolders, hundreds still homeless
By Bob Moran, Sam Wood, Dianne Mastrull and Jennifer Lin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Firefighters this morning continued to douse hotspots at the site of a massive blaze in Conshohocken that destroyed an unoccupied luxury apartment house and seriously damaged four other properties last night.
At daybreak, dozens of fire and rescue vehicles remained at RiverWalk at Millennium, an upscale 60-acre apartment complex along the Schuylkill River.
The Red Cross arranged accommodations for about 300 residents at nearby hotels. A total of 375 were left temporarily homeless.
Many of the occupants lost everything, said Tom Foley, CEO of Southeastern Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Two buildings with at least 125 units are total losses, he said.
"The roof caved in on one, and the first floor all the retaining walls collapsed," Foley said. "The amount of water they poured in there, I can't imagine that there's anything usable."
A skeleton of cinderblocks - four stairway towers - was all the remained of The Stables, an unoccupied five-story structure under construction. Rebar poked from the foundation. Anything combustible had been turned to ash.
The two nearby apartment blocks were severely damaged after the initial blaze caused the roofs of the adjacent buildings to catch fire. From outside each structure, the morning sky could be seen through the upper windows.
....Dan Shero was headed home on the Schuylkill Expressway when he turned on the radio and learned his apartment complex was ablaze.
He arrived to find the scene in chaos.
"It was pretty crazy." he said. "People everywhere. People in tears."
Resident Justin Kaplan, 26, surveyed the destruction this morning waiting to find out when he might be allowed into his unit.
"Best case scenario, everything's wet," Kaplan said. "Worst case scenario, everything's charred."
Both Kaplan and Shero stayed with friends last night.
Among the losses from the blaze: dozens of pets unable to escape from the fire and smoke.
"These were pet friendly buildings," Foley said. "So a lot of people lost their cats and dogs."
Last night, surviving animals were treated and housed by the Horsham Veterinary Clinic, the SPCA and a local animal rescue group.
The blaze began at the construction site on the 200 block of Washington St. and spread quickly across what one official called a "lumberyard."
The description was apt. The building was in the framing stage, which involves putting together the bones of the structure out of kiln-dried two-by-fours, plywood and lumber, materials that can burn very quickly.
At the height of the fire, flames encompassed the entire structure and were as tall as the building itself. They radiated so much heat that embers jumped through the air roofs of adjacent buildings caught fire.
The cause of the blaze - which began about 4:30 p.m. - was unknown.
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