A fire broke out at the Sheraton Hotel in University City — located between 34th and 36th streets on Chestnut Street — on Wednesday afternoon.
The fire occurred on the 19th floor of the building, according to a statement from Philadelphia Fire Department Communications Director Rachel Cunningham, and was first reported shortly before 12 p.m. Penn’s Division of Public Safety wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that no injuries were reported and that, although the building was initially evacuated, guests have been allowed to reenter the hotel.
A post from the Philadelphia Fire Department on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, said that the fire was under control by 12:22 p.m.
DPS wrote to the DP that “a fan coil unit in an unoccupied room was found to be the preliminary cause” of the fire and that the Office of the Philadelphia Fire Marshal is investigating the incident.
“There were more than 60 PFD members on the scene for the response,” Cunningham wrote in a statement to the DP. “The fire was only in one room and didn’t spread beyond that room.”
“[C]ompanies arrived to see heavy smoke coming from one of the top floors," she added. "All responding companies were immediately placed into service, which is an all-hands response."
DPS sent a traffic advisory at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday notifying the Penn community of road closures on Chestnut Street from 38th Street to 34th Street, 36th Street from Market Street to Walnut Street, and at the intersection of 37th and Walnut streets. DPS sent an all-clear alert following the reopening of the roads later in the afternoon.
Penn first purchased the Sheraton in 1996. In March, Penn's Board of Trustees approved a resolution to allocate $60 million for renovations and electrical and plumbing system upgrades to the hotel.
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