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Firefighters inspect an alternate entrance to the burning house on the 700 block of N. 40th Street. The one-alarm fire smoldered into the evening.[Ari Friedman/The Daily Pennsylvanian]

A fire began yesterday afternoon in a duplex on 40th Street near Fairmount Avenue around 4 p.m. The blaze spread from 708 40th St. to the house adjacent to it, and smoke was visible from Penn's high rises.

All residents were able to get out of the house safely, and there were no reported injuries, according to Philadelphia Police Officer Walter McRae.

The Fire Department dispatched its vehicles at approximately 3:57 p.m., according to Philadelphia Fire Department dispatcher William Johnson. By5:30 p.m., approximately 30 firefighters and eight vehicles -- including fire trucks, police cars and ambulances -- still remained on the street.

The residents of the building were being sheltered in a nearby home.

McRae said the home was likely built using wood and plaster, and as a result, flames continued to reignite in the back part of the house on the second floor.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Firefighters entered the house to extinguish the flames, and others were on top of the house cutting away at the wood where the fire was burning.

The smell of the smoke was present on campus during the early evening.

The house in which the fire began appeared severely charred, while the adjacent home seemed to suffer from smoke damage, McRae said.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The officers and firefighters on the scene were not sure of the place of origin within the house.

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