A fire broke out at 210 S. 41st St. this morning, gutting it and forcing residents to evacuate.
No one was injured.
At around 6:15 this morning, the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a 911 call made about the fire.
According to a statement released by Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Karima Zedan, Penn Police were notified about the fire by the Philadelphia Fire Department at around 6:20 this morning, which then joined Philadelphia firefighters at the scene.
In the process of fighting the fire, residents of 212 S. 42nd St. were also evacuated, and holes were cut into the roof of that building.
In all, four engines, two ladder companies, two battalion chiefs and a medic unit responded to the blaze, which was put under control in about an hour, according to a Fire Department spokesman.
Eight Penn students live in 210, while eight Penn students and a Drexel student live at 212, Zedan said.
According to landlord Robert McCafferty, most of the residents of 212 have access to the building because an electrician has declared the property safe. Residents of the third-floor apartment will not be able to immediately return because of the holes cut into the apartment's roof.
McCafferty added that 212, along with the neighboring apartment 208, sustained water damage from attempts to fight the fire, adding that repairs to both apartments will begin in earnest on Monday.
210, on the other hand, has been condemned by the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
The fire was discovered by third-floor tenants, who believe it started in the kitchen of the second floor, McCafferty said. The tenants evacuated the second floor - residents of the first floor were not home at the time of the incident.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, said Lt. Con Allen of the Office of the Fire Marshall, which is charged with investigating the causes of fires.
Allen added that his office is waiting to interview several residents and is relying on Penn Police to get in touch with those witnesses.
The mother of one of the Penn students living at 210 said that the students have received assistance from the Vice Provost for University Life and will be staying at the University City Sheraton tonight.
Residents at the scene of the fire this afternoon declined to be interviewed because of the emotional stress they were under.
Daisy Riquelme, a College sophomore, lives in an apartment in 208.
She said that she was asleep "and around 6:30 a fireman woke me up." He then pulled the blinds off of her windows, which look out onto 210.
Riquelme said she could see "huge flames" shooting out of the building only feet away from her apartment.
Firefighters evacuated her and put a hose to fight the fire through her window.
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