Early Tuesday morning, Wilmington firefighters were called out to a reported house fire on the unit block of East 22nd Street. Crews were alerted to the situation at around 3:45 AM. Upon the arrival of the first units, smoke was seen coming from a two-story, row middle home.

Per Wilmington Fire Department’s Public Information Officer, Battalion Chief Robert Pryor, firefighters immediately initiated operations. As they entered the home, they discovered a male resident affected by smoke inhalation. Emergency Medical Services, already present on the scene, promptly began treating the victim and transported him to Christiana Hospital. At the time of transportation, he was in critical but stable condition.

Fire crews swiftly pinpointed the source of the blaze in the living room on the first floor. They managed to control the fire and restrict it to its original room. Pryor noted that while the rest of the home suffered smoke and heat damage, no fire spread beyond the living room.

Additional crews conducted searches of the remainder of the structure as well as adjoining residences. No additional victims were found, and no evidence of fire spread to neighboring properties was discovered. Pryor stated that standard procedures were followed to ensure no fire hazards remained in the affected and adjacent units.

The Wilmington Fire Marshal’s Office is actively investigating the cause and origin of the fire.