BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The monstrous fire at a South Bethlehem apartment building on Friday displaced 135 residents — leaving the area Red Cross with its largest aid operation in 15 years, officials said.
“From my perspective having to fairly frequently go to fire scenes, this was one of the largest in terms of the number of units that are involved,” Peter Brown, executive director of the American Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter, said Monday.
“It’s the largest fire we’ve dealt with in the Lehigh Valley in at least the last 15 years, and it might be longer than that.”Peter Brown, executive director of the American Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter
“It’s the largest fire we’ve dealt with in the Lehigh Valley in at least the last 15 years, and it might be longer than that.”
The four-alarm fire at the Five10 Flats apartment and retail complex, 510 E. Third St., drew more than a dozen city and area agencies to assist at the scene.
No injuries were reported, and residents were provided temporary hotel accommodations.
The blaze also shuttered ground-level businesses in the building.
Officials were at the fire site Monday.
Bethlehem Chief Building Inspector Mike Simonson said he had met with the owners of the complex, business leaders and property restoration officials, but there was still a ways to go before more could be shared on the damage.
“We’re still waiting for the complete site assessment,” Simonson said. “They’re just doing some temporary shoring and things like that for some of the areas.”
'Quite a large loss here'
Liz Wall — executive assistant with Paul Davis Restoration of Montgomery & Berks counties — said her company had 75 to 100 people working on site.
“Really, it’s just the early stages of this,” Wall said of the post-fire assessment process. “[It’s] quite a large loss here.”
Brown, in an interview with LehighValleyNews.com, said the Red Cross has had volunteers available to assist residents with disaster-related mental health trauma, spiritual care and health services.
For example, the health-services volunteers are licensed nurses who, upon request, help to replace prescription medication, eyeglasses, walkers or other medical equipment lost in such tragedies, he said.
Residents are free to call for the assistance.
“We’re still waiting for the complete site assessment. They’re just doing some temporary shoring and things like that for some of the areas.”Bethlehem Chief Building Inspector Mike Simonson
“We are preparing a team to start doing casework, where we’ll be reaching out to each of the individual tenants to talk with them more about their needs and what support they need for their recovery,” Brown said.
He said it appears all the affected residents have renters insurance policies.
After a post-fire walk-through of the building with city officials, it was decided residents were to be briefly allowed back inside to grab their essential belongings.
The Red Cross handed out nearly 80 plastic totes for the items, and the property manager had packing boxes available, Brown said.
On the scene
The day of the fire, Brown and his team were on scene to set up a temporary evacuation point at Northampton Community College’s Fowler Center directly across the street.
There, they offered water, snacks and other real-time help for the residents.
The Red Cross had shelter trailers and volunteers on standby just in case, Brown said, but the property management company provided residents with temporary hotel accommodations if they had nowhere else to stay for the time being.
The Northampton County 911 Center was notified of the fire on Friday at 1:17 p.m., and city fire department personnel were on scene “within 1 ½ minutes,” according to a news release.
The Red Cross had its first volunteers on site about an hour after that, and Brown pulled up at about 3:30 p.m., he said.
"There were three ladder trucks; there were fire companies from all over the Lehigh Valley that had a presence. That’s going to be the case when it’s a four-alarm fire, but it’s still really impressive to see the resources that the community can mobilize.”Peter Brown, executive director of the American Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter
It still was an active fire scene with roads blocked off at that point, Brown said.
“What struck me immediately was just the size of the response," he said. "There were three ladder trucks; there were fire companies from all over the Lehigh Valley that had a presence.
“That’s going to be the case when it’s a four-alarm fire, but it’s still really impressive to see the resources that the community can mobilize.”
The fire was brought under control just before 7 p.m.
Five10 Flats is five stories tall, with 95 apartments on floors 2-5 and seven businesses on the first floor.
One ground-floor eatery, El Jefe’s Taqueria, had a sign on the front window Monday that read, “Sorry for the inconvenience. We will be closed until further notice!!”
Temporary fencing currently lines the perimeter of the building.
About 4 p.m. Monday, restoration crews were on site working on the roof, even as the rain was on and off throughout the day.
Cause of fire not yet confirmed
The city fire marshal’s office is expected this week to release a statement on the cause of the blaze. It already confirmed it started on the building’s roof.
Former Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, director of business development for Peron Development, which built Five10 Flats, did not respond to a request for comment for this report.
He told LehighValleyNews.com last week that a resident’s cigarette butt may be to blame for the fire.
The Allentown-based Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter of the Red Cross serves the counties of Berks, Columbia, Lehigh, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Snyder and Union.
To make a monetary donation to disaster-relief efforts — as 90% of the Red Cross is made up of volunteers — visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).
