WATCH: Frozen Philadelphia building set for demolition

Firefighters working to extinguish a blaze in Philadelphia amid bone-chilling temperatures left behind a building coated in icicles Monday.

The fire department says the blaze was reported just before 4 a.m. in a three-storey building that houses the Locust Medical Center.

It was minus -16 C with a wind chill making it feel closer to -25 C. The record low temperature for the date is –17 C set in 1888.

Officials say gusty winds and the extreme cold hampered the efforts of firefighters to battle the flames.

The blaze was declared under control two and a half hours later and no injuries were reported.

However, the building was completely frozen over resembling an ice castle that is in danger collapsing under the weight of the ice.

City officials are calling the situation imminently dangerous.

The building’s owner is cooperating with the city’s building inspection department, and has contracted a demolition company.

– with files from The Associated Press