JULIE SHAW
The Philadelphia Daily News

Firefighter Michael McGuire - whose air pack ran out when he was rushing from room to room Wednesday trying to save people in a North Philly high-rise fire - was upgraded from critical to serious condition yesterday.


Fire Department Deputy Commissioner Ernest Hargett said doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania "are very pleased" with his progress.

McGuire, 40, was in an 11th-floor hallway when he collapsed. His team then rushed him out of the building, the Norman Blumberg Apartments public-housing high-rise, near 23rd and Jefferson streets.

Stress and climbing up the stairs could have exhausted his air pack more quickly than expected, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said Wednesday.

Eight other firefighters, a battalion chief and at least six civilians also suffered minor smoke-related injuries in the fire.

The fire started about 5:45 a.m. in an eighth-floor apartment of the 18-floor building.

Hargett said residents of the apartment indicated that the fire had been sparked by an extension cord that ignited.

A grandmother who lived there "burned her hand trying to pull the cord out," he said.

The fire rolled out of that apartment after the door opened and spread to the hallway, Hargett said. Other apartments incurred smoke and water damage.

Most residents in the 143-unit building were able to return to their homes Wednesday night. But 11 families whose apartments were damaged on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors had to stay in a hotel again last night.

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March 4, 2011