More people have died in Philadelphia fires this year than at any time since 2014, statistics show.
On Wednesday, the city fire commissioner addressed the increase following the graduation ceremony of an unusually large class of new firefighters. The 121 new hires allow the department to open up stations that have been closed since the Great Recession a decade ago.
Causes for the fires that led to the 32 deaths so far in 2019 include a lack of working smoke alarms, cooking mishaps, smoking and faulty electrical wiring, Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said.
"I don't know that this is a trend," Thiel said in an interview Wednesday night at the graduation of the 196th class of new firefighters. "We certainly hope it's not a trend."
"Tragically, some of those fire deaths are still happening in homes that don't have working smoke alarms," he added.