By CHRISTOPHER RUVO
The Intelligencer

A mid-afternoon fire rendered a New Hope apartment unlivable and a blaze that cast flames 20 feet high decimated a wooden shed at a Buckingham commercial building Saturday.

The New Hope fire sparked around 4:30 p.m. in the second floor closet of an apartment in Village II. The development of mostly townhouses is located off Riverwoods Drive, south of the borough's bustling downtown center.

At least one person was home when the fire started.

“The woman who lives there called hysterical saying there was smoke coming from the roof,” said Frank Cosner Jr., deputy chief of New Hope Eagle Fire Co., the lead responder on the call.

About 40 firefighters from three departments arrived at the apartment on Runnemede Road. They knocked out windows on the third floor of the building to release heat pressure and fought the flames.

A circular staircase that led to the second floor made tackling the flames more difficult, Cosner said.

Still, the fire was declared under control by 5:14 p.m., said New Hope Eagle Chief Craig Forbes.

An emergency services worker on the scene said a fire victim had inhaled smoke, but was otherwise unhurt. The victim did not seek treatment and no firefighters were injured, Forbes said.

The apartment where the fire started occupied the second and third floor of the building. While the exterior appeared intact other than the knocked-out windows, it was “unlivable for the time being,” Forbes said.

The apartment on the ground floor sustained water damage, said Forbes. But firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to other units.