A blaze on the 2600-block of Welsh Road led to the city's first fire fatality of the year.

Officials from the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Fire Department spent yesterday afternoon on a safety mission after a fire claimed a man’s life Tuesday on the 2600-block of Welsh Road.

During the fire safety walk-through, residents of the apartment complex where the fire broke out, and those in nearby homes, were given fire safety kits and smoke detectors. The kits include smoke detector batteries and information on fire safety and prevention. continue reading »

Jack Slivinski, left, with his father, also a Philadelphia firefighter. Photo courtesy of the New York Post.

Nation’s Bravest, the calendar featuring firefighters from around the country, will host the Mr. Philly Benefit Wednesday, Sept. 7 to highlight two main goals: raise money for the Local 22 Widow’s Fund and honor Jack Slivinski, a firefighter who took his own life earlier this summer and who posed for the calendar.

The benefit will be held at Kings Oak in Northern Liberties, near Slivinski’s former station with the fire department. continue reading »

On July 20, 1968, while working Engine 7, Firefighter Elmer Clothier collapsed at the firehouse, dying from a heart attack while on duty.

Clothier was a 21-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department who also served in The U.S. Army in World War II.

The Clothier family lived in Mayfair before moving to Torresdale. On Wednesday, July 20, the department will honor Clothier’s memory at Engine 7 at Castor and Kensington avenues. continue reading »

State Senator Christine Tartaglione is “disappointed” with outgoing Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s veto of a bill that would extend the requirements of municipalities to provide health coverage for firefighters diagnosed with various cancers.

House bill 1231, dubbed the cancer presumption bill for firefighters, had some bipartisan support, but Rendell, who vetoed two other bills the same day, expressed concern about excessive costs to already burdened local governments. Nearly two dozen Pennsylvania mayors signed a letter urging Rendell to veto the measure, which was introduced by state Rep. Kevin Murphy and backed by Tartaglione, among others.

“I’m very disappointed with our outgoing governor,” she said of Rendell, while addressing just three residents and a handful of executive board members at the Frankford Civic Association meeting inside Aria Health Frankford. “This bill will come back next year.”

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A home invasion in Rhawnhurst became more than that yesterday morning when a woman broke into the home of the city’s Deputy Fire Chief.

Reports say an unidentified 38-year-old woman entered the home of Robert Wilkins on the 1700-block of Hoffnagle Street while Wilkins was asleep. Startled, Wilkins went downstairs to find the woman had broken in through a front door, and fired his gun four times.

Though the suspect tried to escape, she was shot and was rushed to Aria Health-Torresdale in critical condition.

Paramedics were able to rescue an ill man and his son from their home yesterday after a fire broke out.

Firefighters were battling a blaze at 3306 Fairdale Rd., and had it under control when they heard screams coming from a nearby home. When smoke began spreading to neighboring houses, the father, confined to his bed had no way out.

Paramedics went into the house to save the two men, who were uninjured and able to return home. The home where the fire started is destroyed, and the cause of the blaze is still unknown.

The occupants of a home on the 900-block of Dyre Street are safe today after escaping a fire early Tuesday morning.

A fire broke out in the Northwood home around 2:30 a.m. yesterday, which the owner said may have been caused by a faulty heater. In addition to battling the blaze, firefighters also had to deal with icy streets when water from the fire hose began to freeze.

Mayor Nutter addressing a $700 million budget shortfall in Mayfair in front of the 2nd and 15th police district headquarters.

By Christopher Wink

Speaking in front of more than two dozen uniformed police officers and nearly as many firefighters and other officials from the city’s emergency services, Mayor Nutter yesterday heightened pressure on state legislators to “give Philadelphia the tools it needs to help itself.”

“If our General Assembly does not approve the two budget measures we’ve asked for — a temporary increase in the city sales tax and a variety of pension reforms — we will be faced with no choice but to implement a series of devastating cuts,” Nutter said outside the 2nd and 15th police district headquarters on Levick Street near Harbison Avenue in West Mayfair. “Cuts that will impact every neighborhood in Philadelphia, including right here in the Northeast.”

In May, City Council approved a balance budget that depended on those two provisions that need legislative approval: bumping up one percent the city’s sales tax for five years and re-amortizing the city’s pension system by pausing payments for two years and redistributing payments over 25 years instead of 20. Without those options, Nutter said they’ll have to revisit trying to close a $700 million budget shortfall.

At yesterday’s rally, Nutter focused on what that would do to Philadelphia generally and the Northeast specifically, a region of the city known for its communities of cops and firefighters.

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By Shannon McDonald

Here’s a summary of the week’s Northeast news we didn’t cover. See others here.

• This week’s City Block section in the Metro featured the 2200-block of Lott Avenue, just off Roosevelt Boulevar between Grant and Conwell avenues. Residents talked about what it’s like to live so close to a major road and the relatively new Whitman Plaza. Though one neighbor cited suspicious people on his street in the early morning hours, the general concensus is that Lott Avenue is quite and well-kept.
• Business, hospital and first response professionals from the area gathered in the Northeast this week for a seminar held by the Philadelphia Fire Department. The three-day conference, which runs through today, is designed to bring everyone up to code on the latest safety practices and standards.
• A 57-year-old resident of the Delaware Valley Veterans Home has been acquitted of charges associated with fatally pushing another resident. William Houston was accused of involuntary manslaughter after pushing 83-year-old Walter Kelly following an argument in the cafeteria line of the home at Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road.

Our best-read story this week – What do you like best about living in The NEast?

Our most-commented story this week – The Parent Trap: Countdown to Summer

What was your favorite story of the week? What do you think about these other stories? What is your opinion of Lott Avenue? Which story did you like best this week?

Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn’t miss any Northeast Philadelphia news with NEast Links.

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By Shannon McDonald

The Fire Department was called to George Washington High School at Bustleton and Veree yesterday around noon. The faculty and students were evacuated, and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

No other details have been released.