UPDATED: 2 firefighters die, 2 critically injured in Delaware fire overnight
The Wilmington Fire Department has identified two firefighters who died in an overnight fire.
Forty-one-year-old Lieutenant Christopher Leach and fifty-one-year-old Senior Firefighter Jerry Fickes died in the fire on Saturday.
Two other firefighters are in critical condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. Two other firefighters were treated at Christiana Hospital. One of them has been released.
The fire began around 3:15 a.m. in a rowhouse, where several people were trapped inside. The floor of the home collapsed as firefighters went inside, and four firefighters fell.
Four children and one adult were taken to St. Francis Hospital for smoke inhalation.
The fire broke out in the city’s Canby Park section. Fire crews from as far away as Kent County joined in the effort to rescue them.
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