Two Killed, Two Firefighters Hurt in Wilmington Rowhome Fire

Two people were killed and two firefighters were hurt in an early morning fire that tore through a rowhome in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday, fire officials said.

Firefighters were dispatched around 2:45 a.m. to a fire with possible entrapment on Eighth Avenue, Wilmington Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Pryor told Delaware Online. The home was a three story, middle unit townhome. When the first crews arrived, they found heavy fire on all three floors.

Fire Chief John Looney told FOX 29 that crews arrived to find fire engulfing all three floors of the property. The fire was already moving through the whole building, from the ground floor to the roof.

Crews forced back out

Firefighters went inside at first to attack the fire and search for anyone still in the home. Pryor said they were driven back out by extremely heavy fire conditions and structural instability, and the house was starting to collapse.

Crews tried to enter once more, but they were evacuated again. FOX 29 reported that the second floor of the home collapsed during the firefight, forcing firefighters to retreat. After that, crews attacked the fire only from outside.

Once the fire was put out, firefighters went back inside. That is when they found the two people dead. Fire Engineering, citing FOX 29, reported that the two residents were found dead in a bedroom.

The names of the two people killed have not been released. Pryor said their identities were not being released at this time.

Two firefighters hurt

Two firefighters were taken to a hospital with minor injuries suffered while fighting the fire. Pryor said around 8 a.m., speaking from the scene, that both had been treated and released.

The scene stayed active through the morning. Delaware Online reported that Wilmington first responder vehicles and a forensic science truck were still parked along Maryland Avenue after 9 a.m., and firefighters were still working on the row home, with a ladder propped near a second floor window. Family and friends gathered outside the row of homes as the morning went on.

Cause still unknown

The cause of the fire is not yet known. Looney said the cause remains unknown at this time, and Pryor said the work ahead would be long.

"It's gonna be an extensive investigation due to there being fatalities," Pryor told Delaware Online.

No other injuries to residents were reported in the accounts published on Tuesday morning. Officials have not said how many people were in the home when the fire started, or whether anyone else got out on their own.