Philadelphia firefighters extinguished a mid-morning blaze today in a building in South Philadelphia that housed a day-care center.
The blaze was reported at 9 a.m. in the 1500 block of East Passyunk Avenue, an area that contains several shops and restaurants.
A second alarm for the three-story building was reported at 9:10 a.m., fire officials said. They said the fire was declared under control at 10:18 a.m.
There were no reported injuries. A total of 76 people were evacuated, 59 of them children. The children were taken down the street to the South Philadelphia Older Adult Center at Passyunk Avenue and Dickinson Street, where nervous parents converged.
The cause of the fire was under investigation. Agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco were on the scene, probably to investigate whether the blaze was arson.
