Investigators said the fire apparently began in Markwood's residence, at one end of a six-house row of three-story wooden houses. The blaze left six other families - including a single mother with five children who had just moved in and was scheduled to sign a lease yesterday - without a home last night as temperatures remained below freezing. One home housed two families, officials said.
Officials said most victims would stay with family members; others were being put up in motels.
The charred homes, built without fire walls, suffered extensive damage and were declared unsafe by township officials. Bulldozers arrived yesterday afternoon to tear down the remains.
About 200 firefighters from 25 companies in Burlington County responded to the blaze, which was reported near midnight, Florence Fire Chief George Yurcho said.
When firefighters arrived, flames were shooting out of the first and second floors of Markwood's home. Officials believe the fire had also reached the third floor and the neighboring rowhouse by that time, although the flames could not be seen from the street.
Single-digit temperatures with a below-zero wind-chill factor made battling the fire ``especially challenging,'' Yurcho said. The first two hydrants firefighters attempted to use were frozen, Yurcho said.
An attempt to get water from the Delaware River was canceled after 30 minutes when rescue workers found it too difficult to cut through the top sheet of ice, the fire chief said.
Once working hydrants and a water tanker were put in use, firefighters had to deal with water freezing as it hit the buildings. The icy conditions on the roads made it difficult for rescue workers and their vehicles to get to the scene.
Firefighters also attempted to suppress the blaze by cutting into the roofs.
``Every time we did, [the fire] was one house past our cut. It had a good head start,'' Yurcho said.
