Man killed in Pottstown high rise apartment fire; dozens displaced in Montgomery County

POTTSTOWN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A 53-year-old man was killed and dozens of people have been displaced after a fire Thursday morning at a high-rise apartment building in Montgomery County.

The man, identified as Bradley Ludwig, died from burns and smoke inhalation, according to the coroner's office.

Five other people were also treated for smoke inhalaton.

Fire crews were called to Robert P. Smith Towers on the 500 block of East High Street in Pottstown shortly after 6:00 a.m.

The fire on the fifth floor sent smoke billowing into the floors above.

The building is a low-income housing facility with about 90 elderly residents who officials say are now displaced until at least Friday as they go through the building and check its safety.

The Red Cross and the Montgomery County Housing Authority are assisting nearly 60 people.

Benjamin Camper says he thought the fire alarm blaring in his apartment building around 6:00 a.m. was nothing more than a small fire. That was until he opened the door of his seventh-floor apartment.

"When I seen that smoke man, I was like 'Man, I don't know'," he said.

Camper says he tried to wait it out for at least 20 minutes, hoping his air conditioner could vent out the smoke. But when the fire department came knocking at his door, he said he had no other choice but to leave.

"I grabbed a face mask, so I figured put that on and go down the back steps," he said.

Pottstown Borough Fire Chief Frank Hand says the department arrived on the scene within three minutes. He tells Action News that the fire began in a fifth-floor apartment, causing smoke to penetrate throughout the building.

"As the fire progressed, the smoke got into the 6th and 7th floors, which required ladder trucks to be put in place and victims removed by the ladder truck," said Chief Hand.

From outside, Mindy Cushman, who lived across the street and used to work in the building, says she was horrified when she saw elderly residents hanging out of their windows, trying to breathe as they waited for help to come.

"Just seeing them hanging out the window, my main thing is don't jump. Try to hang in there because they're going to get up there," she said.

Officials tell Action News everyone eventually made it out of the building.

Five residents were transferred and later released from area hospitals after being treated for smoke inhalation.

Meanwhile, Camper says he's left to wait for temporary housing provided by the Red Cross and the Montgomery County Housing Authority.

Officials say preliminary investigation points to an electronic possibly starting the fire.