The Philadelphia Inquirer
PENNSAUKEN, N.J. — Seven people, including a police officer, were injured Wednesday in a fire at an assisted living facility in Pennsauken.
The fire at the Bentley Senior Living on Route 130 South near Union Avenue was reported just before 7:30 a.m. and quickly brought under control.
Occupants of the building noticed smoke coming from a two-bedroom unit and called 911, according to Pennsauken Fire Chief Joseph Palumbo.
First responders encountered “an ongoing evacuation and extensive smoke . . . throughout the building,” Palumbo said.
Seven people were taken to four area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, he said, not saying which hospitals they were taken to.
Later, a spokeswoman for Cooper University Hospital in Camden said two of the injured had come there. A spokeswoman for Lourdes Medical Center in Camden said a female victim, a person she described as being in her mid-60s, was brought there.
A spokeswoman for Kennedy University Hospital in Cherry Hill confirmed a male Pennsauken Township Police Department officer, age 47, had been admitted there.
All Hands operating at 7999 N. Route 130 early this morning, 6 civilians and 1 Police Officer injured, fire under control within 30 minutes. pic.twitter.com/ka0V0gctqs
— Pennsauken Fire (@PennsaukenFire) October 26, 2016
It was not known where the others were treated.
The seven, besides the police officer, were three residents and three employees, Palumbo said.
The fire did not look suspicious, he said.
At midday, as some Bentley residents sat outside the facility, the smell of smoke still hung in the air.
An employee of the facility denied permission to speak to the residents.
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