Things In Coatesville Still Not Great

As you might’ve heard, there have been 13 arsons in Coatesville in the last four weeks, including one on Saturday that burned 15 homes.

Sadly, though, for Coatesville’s residents, things are going to get worse before they get better. Case in point: The Guardian Angels are coming to town! Curtis Silwa and his crew did such a bang-up job patrolling SEPTA, they’re headed to Coatesville to… I dunno, walk around and try to catch someone setting more fires.

And even the city’s charity isn’t working out: The Coatesville Memorial Community Center has put a stop to collecting food and clothing: “The community center at 99 9th Ave. in Coatesville has so much donated clothing that it is hard for it to provide all its normal recreation activities[.]”

Oof. Is there anything people out there can be happy about? Why, yes! The West Chester Daily Local — which did this amazing year-end video — has a new video out with the same awesome narrator. I think he’s doing a Walter Winchell impersonation, but I can’t really be sure. You know what? Forget the other links in this post. You really need to hear the first 10 seconds or so of the video.

Photo by Cyberesque used under a Creative Commons license

Wildwood Boardwalk Burns

I went down the shore over the weekend — to Wildwood, of course, because Wildwood is awesome and if you disagree you’re wrong. On Saturday, wildfires from North Carolina and Virginia somehow created a haze on the beaches down the shore. “It smells like cedar,” some dude told the Press of Atlantic City. Neat!

And, then, just this morning, a three-alarm fire broke out under Mariner’s Landing in Wildwood, requiring 200 firefighters to get the blaze under control. I was in Wildwood over the weekend; fire in Wildwood Monday morning. Coincidence? Well, of course. The Boardwalk of Fame and Happiness (this is an actual sign) doesn’t just catch fire because I went for a visit, ate at Sam’s Pizza and learned that spray-on sunscreen doesn’t work as well as the regular stuff.

Today’s fire wasn’t quite as tragic as the one that leveled Castle Dracula six years ago; the only rides that were damaged were the Super Scooter and the Seal Flume (which are probably kids’ rides). Ha ha, kids, looks like we grownups win again!

Flying Pig Farm Destroyed By Blaze

Just to prove that I’m an equal opportunity offender — i.e. it’s not just Barbaro, I must comment on the Burlington County fire that killed 1500 pigs.

In this case, a picture says a thousand words. Or 1500 pigs.

1500 Pigs Killed in Burlco Barn Blaze [KYW 1060]
Nov. 9: Hey The Inquirer Is Doing That Pig Thing Again

University City Is Burning

A friend says there was another underground fire in the spring that was better, which can lead us to only one conclusion: Serial Ninja Turtle arsonist. Or Centralia is bigger than we thought.

Underground Fire [YouTube]

Breaking: Mayor Finally Does Something Useful

Mayor Street and his bodyguards (!) were walking through North Philly (oh) Friday morning when they spotted a house on fire. And so they did what any city mayor would do: Helped make sure two kids were okay and rescue a cat.

Wearing sweats and a baseball cap, the mayor rushed across the street from the fire and made sure the kids were okay, while one of his bodyguards ran into the house to rescue J-Lo the kitty.

The mayor then went down the street, telling people to evacuate their homes, in case the fire spread. (No word if they followed his suggestion.)

“People say the mayor doesn’t do anything, but I really respect him for stopping and caring,” said Ashley Young told the Daily News‘ David Gambacorta. “He could have kept on going, but he gave us his attention. He did a good deed.”

I would like to think anybody would stop to help if a house was on fire, but, hey, let’s not complain. Hip, hip, hooray for Mayor Street!

Street, aides help out at fire scene [Daily News]

Evil Homeless People Nearly Disrupt Gambling

Yesterday, several buildings caught fire on the Atlantic City boardwalk, interrupting many vacationers’ plans to buy t-shirts with stupid slogans on them (”I’m not as think as you drunk I am” being the pinnacle of such shirts), to purchase items for 99 cents and to, uh, get a massage.

Also catching fire were the headquarters of the casino commission, although NBC 10 lets us know the important details.

Investigators said homeless people living illegally under the boardwalk might have started Sunday’s three-alarm blaze that destroyed five businesses and damaged casino offices. No one was hurt in the fire that broke out near Ocean Avenue, and casino officials said gaming in the city should not be affected, even though control offices were damaged.

Phew! Those terrible homeless people, starting a fire and nearly disrupting the plans of vacationers to give their money to rich people. You people are the reason why Donald Trump is leaving AC. Ugh. Can’t the homeless think of anyone but themselves once in a while?

Police: Vagrants May Have Started Atlantic City Boardwalk Blaze [NBC 10]
Officials trying to find cause of Atlantic City boardwalk blaze [AP/Philly.com]
Trump’s A.C. era could be near end [Inquirer]

W. Philly High Getting Lots Of Practice With New Policy

After a teacher was assaulted outside the school on Friday, West Philadelphia HS began a zero tolerance policy as well as new evacuation procedures. (Before, I guess, attacking teachers was worth a slap on the wrist.) The policy meant, uh, zero tolerance for foolin’ around.

Well, they had a pretty easy job of testing it.

West Philadelphia High students were evacuated Monday after two small fires were intentionally set inside the school. These incidents were the latest in a string of violent acts involving students on campus.

Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said students were evacuated at about 11 a.m. while firefighters extinguished a fire in a second floor locker. Students reentered the building and moments later were re-evacuated when a second fire was set inside another locker on the second floor.

“Both fire have been ruled incendiary and the fire marshal is here with us and the police department’s conducting the investigating as to who’s going to be responsible for starting these fires,” Walker said.

Expect about two or three more fires by the end of the day.

West Philadelphia High Violence Continues [CBS 3]

Leftovers: Fire, Water, Sue

• PECO is probing the cause of yesterday’s explosion/fire/half-day. But guess what? “Litigation is possible,” according to the Inquirer. Dun dun dun! [Inky]

• Several commenters on this thread have proposed John Kruk as the Phillies’ new manager. It’s official: Beerleaguer has gotten too popular. Then again, who could resist the dreamy Jason Weitzel? [Beerleaguer]

• Yesterday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to earth very smoothly. Today, an astronaut fainted at a press conference. (The astronaut is okay.) It was not the one from Philadelphia, though. Hooray! [AP/CNN.com]

• Two more homicides in Philadelphia this morning — a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old. Sigh. [Inky]

• And, finally, Sweeney is hosting the Dog Olympics tomorrow. Oh, now this is an event for the ages. [Philebrity]

Your Evening Commute To Get A Lot Worse

An underground explosion has shut down pretty much all of Center City. A 36-block radius — 13th to 18th, Walnut to Vine — is closed. (The explosion also took out power to PW. Oh, the horror.)

Thousands of people have been evacuated after an underground explosion and then fire at S. 15 Street. KYW 1060 is reporting that a cable had a fault in it at 15th Street, and then someone tried to switch the load to another cable — but instead switched it to the faulty cable. (Got all that?)

Now there are fires at 15th and Ranstead and 13th and Chestnut. Of course, if this really affects you, you’re probably out in front of your building and not reading this, are you?

Update, 3:10 p.m.: Fire commish says one person is injured; also has hilarious “has to turn down his radio” moment during the presser, as if he were on sports talk radio.

Underground Electrical Explosion Rocks Penn Center Area [KYW 1060]

Garden Of Eaton

Over the weekend, French gothic revival-style church Eden Hall — inexplicably in Far Northeast Philadelphia — caught on fire, and police now suspect an arson.

Right. It’s probably just some stupid kids, and, while the church was pretty, it had been boarded up and abandoned for years, etc., etc. Let’s get to the Action News report:

The flames that devoured a historic former church in Philadelphia were started intentionally according to fire investigators. Firefighters struggled against the blaze at the former church early Sunday.

Action News was in Philadelphia’s Torresdale neighborhood overnight as flames shot through the roof of what was most recently called Eaton Hall.

Actually, I’m kind of surprised it wasn’t called Eatin’ Hall.

Church Fire Ruled Arson [6 ABC]