Firefighting Effort Leaves Ice-Coated Building

Firefighters working to extinguish a blaze in Philadelphia amid bone-chilling temperatures have left behind a building coated in icicles. The fire department says the blaze was reported just before 4am today in a three-story building that houses the Locust Medical Center. It was 3 degrees with a wind chill of 16 below zero; the record low temperature for the date is 2 degrees set in 1888. Fire crews arrived to find flames shooting from the third floor. Officials say gusty winds and the extreme cold hampered the efforts of firefighters to battle the flames. It was so cold that icicles hung from the end of the firefighters' hoses. The blaze was declared under control about 2 ½ hours later, and no injuries were reported. (More firefighters stories.)