This archive report was first published on 6 January 2022.
On January 6, 2022, a devastating fire swept through a Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) building in the Fairmount neighborhood, leaving 12 people dead, including 8 children.
Laurie Roma, a 44-year-old resident who lives across the street from the blaze, was awoken by the sound of screaming. She had tried calling 911 that morning but no one answered, and a neighbor also reported trouble getting through to emergency services.
According to a city spokesman, 911 received the first calls about the fire at 6:36 a.m. and fielded dozens of calls after that. The first firefighters arrived on the scene at 6:40 a.m.
For the Purifoy family, the tragedy was particularly heartbreaking. They had recently lost their father, and the family had been coming together stronger than ever. 'We always stayed together because we were a family,' said Ms. Purifoy. 'We weren’t just people who said, “Oh that’s my cousin, that’s my sister” and then didn’t know what was going on in each other’s life.'
Sumara Wright, 18, was among those who were deeply affected by the tragedy. She had walked over to the elementary school that morning to pick up laptops for her siblings, only to be told about the fire and the loss of her close friend and classmate.
'It was heartbreaking,' Ms. Wright said. 'I had just seen him two days ago riding his bike.'
Reporting was contributed by Maria Cramer, Amanda Holpuch, Neil Vigdor, Jesus Jiménez, and Alan Yuhas, with research contributed by Kitty Bennett.
