Society Hill Fire Rekindled, Damages Second Story Condo

Seth Grasso and his mother, Dawn Bonnell, were just sitting down to eat with friends. They would be staying at their friends’ house for the night after a fire earlier that afternoon displaced them from their home at Society Hill at least temporarily.

“We were just starting to unwind,” Grasso said. “We were doing some laundry and getting ready to eat dinner when we got a call that our house was on fire.”

A second fire, in the same building, in the same day.

Several fire and police departments and ambulance squads reported to a fire earlier in the day at Society Hill, a condominium complex. The building in question covers units 31-60.

At 10 a.m., a fire of still undetermined origin broke out, resulting in the resident being airlifted to Temple University Hospital, her dog being killed, and two firefighters and an elderly resident being taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center.

The building houses 24 units, and half the residents in those units would be displaced, at least temporarily. Grasso and his mother were included in that number.

Their home is right above the home in which the original fire broke out. They received the call about the second fire at 6:30 p.m.

According to Galloway Fire Chief and Investigator Ronald Garbutt, there is a void of about one foot in between the ceiling of the first floor condo and the floor of the second. That void housed a hidden fire that, once it caught air, exploded to cause more damage.

“It’s a rare occurrence, but sometimes it happens,” Garbutt said. “ … There was no indication that there was any fire (earlier in the day). We were here for well over an hour after we put it out, and we didn’t see any smoke.”

The fire traveled through a hole in the walls where there is piping, and struck the bathroom.

“They had to break down our bathroom door to get in,” said Grasso, whose home was the only one affected Thursday night. “The whole house is covered in soot, and the bathroom is ripped apart.”

The evening fire didn’t approach the severity of the afternoon fire. There were no injuries, and the fire was under control quickly. Afterwards, the fire department used thermal cameras to do a thorough scan for undetected smoke. That evaluation verified there were no more hidden spots.