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Three-alarm fire in Kensington next to new development

Firefighters were called early Tuesday morning to Front and Dauphin Streets in Kensington to put out a three-alarm fire in an abandoned building behind a…

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Firefighters were called early Tuesday morning to Front and Dauphin Streets in Kensington to put out a three-alarm fire in a building behind Rainbow clothing shop and a Payless Shoe store.

The blaze has been under control as of about 8:30 a.m. Hundreds of commuters have been delayed as SEPTA partially shut down service on the Market-Frankford line due to risk of icing from the fire, which occurred next to the York-Dauphin stop, and has been running shuttle buses between the Huntingdon and Berks stations. 

No one was injured, according to firefighters at the scene.

Major news outlets have reported that the building was abandoned, but local residents say they've seen workers there recently. Moreover, Philadelinquency said that the building on fire is part of the Rainbow clothing and Payless Shoe commercial complex, all owned by Front Emerald Partners LLC, their deeds signed by "Alvin Miller" of the Miller Family Limited Partnership. Philadelinquency also reported that L&I had cited the fire building for numerous fire code violations, all of which were complied as of February 6th at the latest.

Next door at the corner of York and Jasper streets is the much larger Bromley building — a defunct carpet factory from the mid-19th century. Sometimes referred to as “the White Elephant,” the decrepit Bromley building was long feared as a firetrap until last summer when a new owner began redeveloping Bromley into “York Street Square,” a mixed-use residential and retail space. It is unclear how much of the new rehab has been damaged by the adjacent fire.

Updated at 11:00 a.m. with more sources.
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