Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include information about the fire as it progressed. It also has been updated to include comments from the chief of the Bethlehem Fire Department and comment from the American Red Cross.
A fire broke out at the Five 10 Flats on East Third Street.
Five fire trucks and multiple police cars attended to the scene.
Emergency vehicle sirens were first heard around 1:15 p.m. By 1:33 p.m., the fire trucks started to hose off the building. A fifth fire truck arrived at the scene at 1:52 p.m.
Police are blocking off the South Bethlehem Greenway on Pierce Street.
Reagan Miller, ‘24, lives on the fifth floor of the Five 10 Flats. He said he was working when the fire alarm went off and at first didn’t think anything serious was happening.
He said when he walked outside he had seen the patio side of apartment’s roof was engulfed in flames and was spreading toward the Six 10 Flats.
He said, as of 1:39 p.m., everyone he knew in the building got out safely.
Becca Mitchell, ‘26G, lives in an apartment in the Five 10 Flats with a window facing the south side of the building. She said she heard the fire alarm and thought it was just a drill.
She then saw gray smoke through her window and exited the building with her roommate and her roommate’s boyfriend.
Mitchell said she saw the fire spread from the west corner of the roof of the building toward the east side of the building in the direction of the Six 10 Flats.
She said maintenance staff were running through the halls, knocking on doors of the apartment asking people to get out of the building.
Mitchell said she’s not sure where the fire started, and she couldn’t tell if the fire spread to the interior of the actual building.
Police began to allow people who live in the apartment building onto the blocked-off greenway at 2:20 p.m.
A HawkWatch alert was sent to the Lehigh community at 2:26 p.m. The alert stated the community should avoid the area and follow directions from local authorities.
The fire could cause poor air quality, and individuals, especially those with respiratory conditions, should limit outdoor activity and remain indoors, according to the alert.
The fire was still active at 2:45 p.m.
Eyewitness accounts said the fire reportedly started in an elevator on the fifth floor. Officials have yet to confirm the cause of the fire.
By 3 p.m., the American Red Cross, the Bethlehem Fire Department and the Easton Fire Department set up a tent at the corner of East Third Street and Fillmore Street, where they attended to responders and residents.
As of 3:30 p.m., the fire was extinguished, and by 6 p.m., firefighters were packing away the tent they had set up by apartment building and began to open East Third Street to drivers.
Captain Nicholas Lechman from the Bethlehem Police Department told WLVR radio the initial call for the fire occurred around 1:30 p.m. or 1:45 p.m.
He said patrol officers were in the area and entered the apartments after seeing smoke coming out of the top of the building. After entering, he said the officers immediately started to evacuate the residents.
Lechman said all residents of the building were evacuated safely, but there were still some pets in the building.
“From what we understand, the fire is contained, and the fire department is working on evacuating the pets at this time,” Lechman said at the time of being interviewed around 3:45 p.m.
At around 7 p.m., approximately 30 residents were let into the building in small groups to collect their belongings, as they were being relocated.
Chief Michael Reich from the Bethlehem Fire Department said in an interview with The Brown and White the Five 10 Flats apartment building is a five-story mixed occupancy building with 95 residential units and seven commercial units. He said all 95 units won’t be inhabitable for a while due to water damage.
Reich said there are 135 residents that are currently being relocated to hotels. He also said all residents are accounted for, and no residents or firefighters are injured.
Reich said at this time, the cause of the fire is still unknown.
“Especially in such a large fire, our focus was first putting out the fire,” he said.
He said the fire department is now allowing people back into the building, starting with the most needy, such as those who need medications. He said the department then let those with pets that were unaccounted for into the building.
Reich said those standing at the exterior of the building around 7 p.m. were part of the last group of residents allowed to enter to retrieve immediate emergency essential needs.
He said the firefighters had been at the scene since 1:17 p.m. and arrived at the fire in less than two minutes.
He also said the Bethlehem Fire Department was assisted by the Allentown Fire Department, the Easton Fire Department, the Nancy Run Fire Company, the Bethlehem Township Fire Department, the Palmer Township Fire Department, Lower Saucon Fire Rescue and the Hanover Township Fire Department.
Cristina Maisel, the regional communications manager of the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region, said the American Red Cross of Pennsylvania Rivers, based in Allentown, responded to the fire.
She said the Red Cross received a call from the emergency dispatch center about the fire, and the disaster action team responded to assess the needs of those impacted.
Maisel said the disaster action team opened a temporary evacuation point for the residents who were displaced from the fire to provide care and comfort.
According to a press release from the American Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter shared with The Brown and White, the temporary evacuation center for residents was located at the Northampton Community College Fowler Family Southside Center, across the street from the Five 10 Flats.
Smoke was seen from Grace Hall at 1:27 p.m. Passersby on Third Street were ushered into surrounding buildings to avoid the smoke from the fire. (Jake Stalsitz/B&W Staff)
Firefighters used a hose on the fire at 2 p.m. The first emergency sirens were heard around 1:15 p.m. (Ellis Krusch/B&W Staff)
Firefighters extinguished flames seen on the corner of the apartment building. The first fire alarms were heard at 1:15 p.m. (Ellis Krusch/B&W Staff)
The fire is still active as of 2:36 p.m. Multiple fire trucks and police officers are attending to the scene. (Ellis Krusch/B&W Staff)
Debris from the roof of the Five 10 Flats fell on the sidewalk of East Third Street. Officials extinguished the fire by 3:30 p.m. (Ellis Krusch/B&W Staff)
Firefighters from the Bethlehem and Easton Fire Departments attended to the scene at the Five 10 Flats. Officials set up a tent on the corner of East Third Street and Fillmore Street to attend to residents and the scene. (Ellis Krusch/B&W Staff)
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