UPDATE: Apartment Complex Fire Displaces 30 Residents, Injures 3

UPDATED: 9:18 a.m., Wednesday:

A three-alarm fire at the Levittown Trace Apartments early Wednesday morning displaced approximately 30 residents and sent three people to the hospital.

Firefighters responded to a reported apartment fire in the Ford Road complex at 5:30 a.m., with first arriving units finding fire venting out of a second-floor bedroom window that had already extended to the third floor and into the attic, Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito said.

“Fire ran a good amount of the attic both directions,” Dippolito told reporters at the scene.

The blaze left 12 apartments in the J Building uninhabitable due to fire, smoke, and water damage, the fire marshal said.

Three people were taken to area hospitals during the blaze.

One resident jumped from a second-floor window, with police officers helping to slow his fall before he was taken to the hospital for observation of an arm injury.

Dippolito said two firefighters were transported to the hospital – one suffering from smoke inhalation and another with an arm injury sustained during a partial roof collapse.

“When the collapse occurred, some large pieces of sheetrock came down and caught him on the arm,” Dippolito said.

The fire marshal expects the firefighter with the arm injury to be treated and released, but he did not yet know the status of the firefighter treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire marshal knows which unit the fire started in, but has not yet determined the specific area or cause.

“I’ve not gotten in there to start the investigation,” he said.

The Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania was called to assist the approximately 30 displaced residents at the scene.

After the fire was reported, police arrived quickly at the scene and began evacuating the building by banging on doors, according to Dippolito.

The building’s fire alarm system activated and rang during the emergency response, Dippolito said.

Arjun, who was stopping by to pick up a co-worker just past 5:30 a.m., arrived as police and firefighters pulled up. He reported seeing flames shooting from the roof of the J building.

“It looked like what you would see in a Netflix show or movie,” he said. “You could see the fire lighting up the trees near it with orange. Then the firemen ran to get water hoses for it.”

A complex resident described sirens going off and hearing people yelling in the hallways as the flames spread.

“It was pretty bad by the time we got out to the courtyard,” said the man, who didn’t wish to give his name.

Firefighters attacked the fire from both above and below despite the challenging conditions.

Crews from the Croydon Fire Company reunited a cat that was rescued from the apartment building with its owners, who said the cat was doing fine.

Fire companies from around Lower Bucks County responded to the blaze, with companies from New Jersey and Central Bucks County covering Levittown-area stations.

“The fire departments in this region of Bucks County are top notch,” Dippolito said.

Original Story:

Firefighters from across the Levittown area are battling a blaze that broke out early Wednesday at the Levittown Trace Apartments.

Crews were called to the complex on Ford Road in Bristol Township around 5:40 a.m. for a reported fire.