5 firefighters injured battling Pa. apartment building blaze

RED LION — Authorities say five firefighters were injured battling a blaze at an apartment building in Pennsylvania.

Crews were called to the Hilltop Apartments in Red Lion at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday and quickly extinguished a basement fire, York County officials said.

But fire crews then realized that the blaze had spread to upper floors and began searching for the extended fire, county public information officer Mark Walters said in a statement. Firefighters entered an apartment at about the same time as “an explosion of superheated gases and fire,” he said.

Five firefighters were taken to York Hospital. Walters said one remained hospitalized Sunday. The extent of injuries wasn’t immediately available.

All residents of the 18-unit complex were displaced and are receiving aid from the Red Cross. A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

Walters said the building was originally built to be a school and was later converted into apartments, leaving what he called “many void areas” allowing fire to travel from floor to floor and making it difficult to stop.