TOLEDO, Ohio — Fire crews spent hours on the scene of a blaze at a south Toledo apartment complex that began Wednesday afternoon and stretched into the night.
A 911 call came in just after 3 p.m. reporting a fire near a balcony at the Tanglewood Apartments. Toledo Fire & Rescue Department crews responded to the building in the 5900 block of Cresthaven Lane. The first TFRD unit on the scene reported heavy smoke.
Firefighters began attacking the flames defensively and the fire became wind-driven. The two-alarm fire was deemed under control after several hours, but hot spots remained inside late Wednesday.
A relief crew of firefighters arrived around 4:45 a.m. Thursday to monitor and no longer were spraying the building at that point.
The complex is considered a total loss.
"Can't get into that building to pull it apart, so we're gonna flow water from the outside in multiple locations, let gravity do its work, get down into those areas and hopefully extinguish it. Do that through the night, then tomorrow at first light we'll be able to get a better handle on what we've got and how we're gonna have to go over all that," explained TFRD spokesperson Sterling Rahe.
The building is unstable and the amount of water poured on the fire contributed to the instability. Pieces fell off the building during the fire and there was a partial collapse on the back and collapses in the garage area. Rahe urged the public to avoid the active scene.
If the building does not fully collapse, it will be torn down.
Around 70 firefighters and six command staff attacked the fire, according to Rahe.
"Some of the additional challenges (were) high winds pushing the fire through the building as well as the building construction," said Rahe earlier in the afternoon. "We've made a stop at the end of the building and that's where we have a large contingent of firefighters with hand lines to keep it from progressing to the next building."
Roads around the complex were blocked while personnel worked through the night.
People are asked to avoid the area unless necessary for the next couple of days while the investigation is underway, Rahe said. "I understand people are out and they're affected by this but we're asking them to stay away."
No injuries have been reported and everyone has been accounted for, Rahe said. He estimates 25 to 30 residents were displaced. 16 to 18 units in the complex were affected.
"This building was a loss, but we were able to protect the building around it," Rahe said.
The cause is under investigation, but there is a general idea where the fire may have started, according to Rahe. Further details will be pieced together from witnesses, 911 calls and evidence at the scene.
Heavy smoke was visible in the area and spread for several miles.
HELP FOR THE DISPLACED
The Red Cross was called to the scene early and a temporary shelter has been set up at Church of the Cross located at 1750 Eastgate Road behind Monnettes' Market. Residents are asked to bring their ID to begin the case worker process.
TARTA provided two buses within an hour to keep residents safe and out of the smoke.
"It's a collaborative effort when something like this happens. Our community, we draw together," Rahe said. "That was evident with the Red Cross opening up and occupying a church over on Eastgate. Church of the Cross opened up their doors to bring people in. That's what this community is all about, helping each other. We'll get through this and hopefully get people back on their feet again."
RESIDENTS DEVASTATED
Onlookers gathered outside the building, including residents of the complex.
"My building is gone, my apartment is gone. I don't know what we're supposed to do, me and my grandson. Now we've lost everything, literally everything," said resident Deanna Turner.
Joe Ellis woke up to the fire blazing in another unit and smelled smoke. His grandmother thought it was from the fireplace at first. He woke his grandfather up and they rushed out of the apartment and helped his downstairs neighbor.
His grandmother had photos of her sister who had passed away years ago and, like others, they lost everything in the fire. He recalled looking back at the building from the woods nearby as it burned and thinking of what they had lost.
"It was so devastating," Ellis said. "All the memories, you know, you can't remake those memories with someone who passed away."
APARTMENT COMPLEX'S BACKGROUND
Rahe researched the building's background and found it was built in 1974.
"When you look at a building like this, as it sits and as it's constructed, it's not the same as a building that would be built today with all of the protection systems that are required by code today," Rahe said.
The building lacked a sprinkler system because it may not have been required to have one when it was built. Another thing the building may lack are fire stops, which is a barrier from the ground level to the roofline that stops a fire from progressing.
There were code changes in 1979, but Rahe said it's difficult to make a building come up to code unless it's occupancy or purpose changes.
