{"id":729554,"date":"2026-06-27T17:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729554\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:03:15","slug":"2-kids-arrested-for-allegedly-setting-six-alarm-fire-that-tore-through-several-pennsylvania-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729554\/","title":{"rendered":"2 kids arrested for allegedly setting six-alarm fire that tore through several Pennsylvania homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two kids have been arrested for setting a devastating blaze that ripped through several buildings in Pennsylvania and left dozens homeless.<\/p>\n<p>The unidentified minors set off the inferno in Allentown Wednesday night at around 8:45 p.m. at an abandoned warehouse on Front Street, before it quickly raged out of control, local <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/6abc.com\/post\/2-juveniles-charged-arson-following-massive-6-alarm-fire-allentown-pa\/19389886\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WPVI<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>The six-alarm fire spread across the street, tearing through eight homes \u2014 six of which were destroyed \u2014 leaving seven families displaced, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.71812081;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39817108\" width=\"1014\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/two-juveniles-arrested-connection-massive-132463610.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of a large commercial building engulfed in a massive six-alarm fire.\" class=\"wp-image-39817108\"  \/>The Allentown inferno tore through eight homes on Wednesday. ABC6<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.52154532;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39817109\" width=\"898\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/two-juveniles-arrested-connection-massive-132463613.jpg\" alt=\"The remains of a severely damaged brick commercial building with a collapsed roof and multiple broken windows, secured by a metal fence.\" class=\"wp-image-39817109\"  \/>The fire allegedly set by two minors left several families homeless. ABC6<\/p>\n<p>Local resident Robert Velez was shocked to hear the suspects were just little kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my home,\u201d he told WPVI, adding that his wife was visiting relatives when the fire tore through the buildings. \u201cShe\u2019s really devastated. \u201cIt\u2019s just crazy that any kids did that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors also couldn\u2019t believe the level of devastation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever seen anything like this,\u201d local Ben Pope told WPVI, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s sad they just ruined the rest of their lives \u2014 all for nothing. Affected all of these people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fire officials said the radiant heat \u2014 not direct flames \u2014 caused the fire to spread from the warehouse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t so much the flames that jumped over as much as it was radiant heat; it was that hot,\u201d Allentown Fire Department Chief Efrain Agosto Jr., said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe heat itself just basically took over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One firefighter suffered minor injuries. No other injuries were reported.<\/p>\n<p>Each suspect is facing charges of arson, recklessly endangering another person, conspiracy and causing a catastrophe, the Lehigh County District Attorney announced Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Due to their ages, both suspects will be processed through the juvenile system and are currently being held at a juvenile detention center.<\/p>\n<p>The factory was once the American Atelier furniture factory but was set to become a focal point for a hoped-for economic revitalization of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>The building was slated to be turned into a 16-story mixed-use building with 360 apartments and 21,0000 square feet of office and retail space, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/06\/25\/allentown-fire-american-atelier-factory-destroyed-redevelopment-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to The Morning Call<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two kids have been arrested for setting a devastating blaze that ripped through several buildings in Pennsylvania and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,6659,3,3234,21,19,22,20,25,194,24],"class_list":["post-729554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-fires","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}