Gordon Rago and Kevin Frisch

York Daily Record

For the second time in three nights, York City firefighters battled a dramatic blaze Saturday night — and for the second time in three nights, vacant structures were at the heart of the fire.

Smoke and onlookers choked the streets Saturday night as more than 100 firefighters from a number of local departments turned out to fight a massive fire in the 100 block of East Maple Street.

READ MORE: Blaze in York consumes vacant buildings

Several attached structures were in flames as city crews — joined by departments from Dover, Red Lion and elsewhere — arrived at the scene a little after 10:30 p.m. They were met with heavy flames roaring from the rear of 154 and 156 E. Maple, and the fire had already begun to spread to adjoining homes. By the end of the evening, six buildings, from 148-158 E. Maple St., were destroyed. The roof collapsed on one of the structures.

READ MORE: Why do some York buildings have an X on them?

There were no immediate reports of injury to residents, but one firefighter from a non-York City department was taken by ambulance to York Hospital, York City Deputy Fire Chief Chad Deardorff confirmed from the scene.There was no immediate word on the firefighter's condition or injuries.

Deardorff said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the fire, which flared just 48 hours after another blaze destroyed two vacant homes on Susquehanna Avenue in the city. Like the Susquehanna structure, the buildings at 154-156 E. Maple were marked with large red X's, a sign to firefighters not to enter the building even if it is on fire because it may be structurally unsound.

READ MORE: Burned buildings 'should have been torn down'

It was not immediately known how many people were displaced as a result of Saturday's fire. Responders were still trying to track down residents at and around the fire scene as of 1 a.m. Sunday. Red Cross workers were also on hand to aid those suddenly rendered homeless.

A busy night

The fire came on the heels of an earlier blaze Saturday night at a South George Street apartment.

At that scene, rescue workers helped a resident who was trapped on the third floor get out via the fire escape.

Meanwhile, best friends Tiffany Hill and Ja'Quaya Dowling were at Dowling's grandmother's nearby home on South Queen Street when the fire started. They said someone knocked on their door and said there was a fire. So they ran to the burning building and started knocking on doors. Some people wanted to go back inside to get their belongings.

READ MORE: 4 adults, 9 children displaced in York fire

"It was like complete panic," Hill said of the initial minutes of the fire. "One lady was crying."

Added Dowling: "People were trying to get stuff upstairs in their house and in the back. And I'm like, 'No. Leave everything. Come outside. You can replace all that stuff, you can't replace your life.' "

The George Street fire was called in at 10:16 p.m., the East Maple Street fire, exactly 17 minutes later.

READ MORE: Man jumps from window of flaming York home

And that doesn't even complete the list. City fire crews kicked off the evening by responding to a 9:45 p.m. call at 238 S. Duke St., although that incident was never formally declared a working fire. Still, with crews still at Duke and South George streets when the East Maple call came in at 10:33 p.m., the decision was quickly made to call for mutual aid.

Quick action and concern

On East Maple Street, neighbors sprang into action when smoke was first noticed at about 10:30 p.m.

Local residents Manny Ferran and Frank Figueroa said they were across the street when they saw light smoke coming from the building. Ferran called 911 and the pair then began knocking on residents' doors to get them out, they said.

The blaze apparently grew quickly.

"Between a minute of smelling it, the whole thing was engulfed," Figueroa said.

READ MORE: York fire displaces 10

In a reflection of just how pervasive structural fires in the city are becoming, among the onlookers at the East Maple Street fire was a family displaced by the South George Street fire.

Twenty-one-year-old Kecia Wallace was on hand with her infant son. Her son and her sister's children were being babysat earlier in the evening by Wallace's mother in her sister's home, which was among those damaged on South George.

Wallace said her mother got the four children out of the house so quickly they had no time to dress; the children had no socks or shoes.

Wallace said she rushed home from work to make sure the family was OK. They then walked the short distance to East Maple Street.

"We wanted to make sure everyone got out safe," Wallace said. "Being that we were in the same situation, we were just hoping and praying."

York Daily Record staffers Gordon Rago and Kevin Frisch contributed to this story.

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