Doors catch fire in South Philly
PHILADELPHIA - January 25, 2008
At around 4:30 a.m. on January 2, people were banging on Lynne Hopper's door to wake her up. They were there to tell her that the door to her Bainbridge Street house was on fire.
Luckily, she, her husband, and two small daughters were able to get out.
"When we opened the door, the smoke just came billowing in," Lynne said.
It turns out the Hoppers weren't the only ones. In the fall, there was a fire in a door in the 700 block of Cleveland Street.
On December 11, there was another door fire just a block away in the 700 block of Harshaw.
Anthony doesn't want to publicize his last name, but says his fiancée, who was home alone and woke up to a smoke-filled house, was terrified.
"When she went downstairs to let herself out, the door was engulfed in flames," Anthony said.
Then, just this past Tuesday evening, another doorway fire occurred next door to the first one on Cleveland Street. This one did not happen in the middle of the night, but around 7:00 p.m.
The fire marshal's office is investigating these door fires, but at this time, they're not prepared to say whether they think they are arson, and, despite their proximity to each other, they're not saying if the incidents are even related.