When you have a massive fire like this that gets national exposure there is going to be a lot of finger pointing. As with anything like this, government should no doubt be open and honest. It builds public confidence and if government is not open and honest, it erodes public trust. Did Conshy require the proper building permits? If so, did they do the proper inspections? Conshy should absolutely be open and honest about this.

One should also look into the building process. Not saying O'Neill, who is a private citizen and not a public figure, did anything wrong, but in general any builder could take shortcuts - which could be legal shortcuts, but with a desire to cut costs and increase profit end up putting people in danger if a fire were to occur.

Then you can also have the biggest conspiracy (and I'm not saying there is any truth to this) that the fire was intentionally set as an insurance ploy in these tough economic and real estate times.

Regardless, all the displaced owners/renters who lost all their worldly possessions and beloved pets deserve open and honest answers from local government in regards to permits, how the fire started and why it spread so fast.

More updates, more to think about....how does what happened THERE affect us HERE on this side of the river? What should we be not asking for, but DEMANDING of our local municipalities when it comes to land development? After all, it is no secret that local government only ever pays lips service to residents' concerns, right? They care about private property rights....of big developers, right? They type of construction that caused that fire to go up so fast makes you think, right? It would be interesting to do a survery of new construction of condos and townhomes and apaprtments along the Main Line in the last 6 or 7 years, wouldn't it? How many are steel framed? How many are wooden frame? Maybe now we all can reevalute what we are allowing to be developed in our communities?

Posted on Sun, Aug. 17, 2008
Growing concerns in fire's aftermath
In Conshohocken, optimism singed with reservations
By Diane Mastrull, Larry King and Allison Steele
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

As wisps of smoke still lingered from Wednesday's horrific blaze along the Schuylkill, local planners and redevelopment experts were in agreement. Almost certainly, they said last week, the makeover of Conshohocken would survive even this.

The fire, which destroyed two occupied apartment buildings and the unfinished skeleton of a third, proved catastrophic for hundreds of displaced tenants. The buildings' developer, J. Brian O'Neill, estimated damages to be between $50 million and $80 million.

But officials said it hardly would block the continuation of Conshohocken's river-centric renaissance aimed at converting industrial brownfields into residential, commercial and recreational venues.

No sooner was the fire under control than O'Neill had pledged to rebuild "with a vengeance, because we believe in Conshohocken."

"This," he said late Wednesday as firefighters started to roll up hose, "is a revitalization that cannot be set back."

Mixed with an optimism, however, are warnings from land-use experts and Conshohocken residents that this once down-and-nearly-out factory town, which got its new lease on life two decades ago, is showing signs of serious growing pains that could wind up turning the borough into a place to avoid.

From last week's flames, they say, should emerge a review of Conshohocken's comeback so far and a thoughtful exploration of where it should lead.

"They built so much so fast," a rattled Jean Marie Haubert, 51, said as she watched the fire consume a section of the new part of the town that has been her home for 18 years.

Rachelle Gunn, 24, who has lived in Conshohocken for most of her life, said most locals hadn't embraced the Riverwalk plan.

"I don't think Conshohocken is meant to be this extravagant, Manayunk-type place," Gunn said yesterday.sat "They're trying to put all of this stuff into what's really a very small town, and I just don't see it fitting in here the way they want it to."

Posted on Sat, Aug. 16, 2008
The disaster was "totally predictable"
By Jeff Gammage, Diane Mastrull and Larry King
Inquirer Staff Writers

Here's the problem with living in an apartment building that sits beside an active construction site, as several hundred Conshohocken residents learned to their horror on Wednesday:
If the site catches fire, it emits heat far more intense than its occupied neighbor can withstand - and might set that structure alight.

"It is a totally predictable and anticipatable disaster," said Vincent Brannigan, professor of fire-protection engineering at the University of Maryland, after a spectacular fire ravaged the Riverwalk at Millennium luxury apartment complex on the Schuylkill.

Fire investigators already have determined that the fire jumped to occupied buildings after starting at the Stables, a 309-unit complex that was under construction.

"It was a stick building," Conshohocken Fire Chief Robert Phipps said. "You're looking at a lumberyard. Have you ever seen a lumberyard catch fire? That's the way this building went up."

Developer J. Brian O'Neill has rejected any suggestion that an abundance of wood framing played a role in the aggressive pace of the fire. In interviews, he defended the buildings' construction as faithful to code, insisting, "Everything was done right."