Close to two dozen people were forced out of their homes overnight when an intense fire in the Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood moved from one row home to the next.
The screams of neighbors brought people out of their homes.
"All I heard her say was 'Oh my God!'", said James McClendon, who heard a woman who lives in one of the burning homes yelling. "So I flew to the door and the next thing I know is, flames erupted everywhere. It was very intense."
Investigators are not sure at this point how the fire started, but it spread quickly, causing severe damage to four homes on the 2800 block of Memphis Street, and some damage to a 5th.
"A lot of people didn't know it was going to spread as fast as it did," said Shirah Gist who lives across the street. "It went from something real small to something real big."
Twenty people were able to escape their homes without injury.
There is a lot of damage, however.
"We did have some collapse from the porch fronts," said Philadelphia firefighter Anthony Sneidar, Jr.
The Red Cross is assisting neighbors who were displaced and fire crews remained on the scene this morning to monitor hot spots and investigate the cause of the fire.
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Photo Credit: Felix DeMuro