Three-Alarm Fire Hospitalizes Two Residents and a Firefighter at Detroit's Russell Woods Manor Apartments
A pre-dawn blaze on Detroit's west side displaced four families and sent two residents and one firefighter to the hospital, while crews kept the flames to about a third of one building.
By Natalia Campos ·
Two residents and a firefighter were taken to hospitals after a three-alarm fire ripped through part of an apartment building on Detroit's west side early Thursday.
The Detroit Fire Department was called to the Russell Woods Manor Apartments, near LaSalle Boulevard and Webb Street, shortly after 5 a.m. The complex sits across from the Durfee Innovation Society and Central High School. Crews arrived to find heavy smoke and large flames coming from the roof and second-floor windows of one of the buildings.
Ladder companies went to windows where some residents appeared ready to jump to escape. Deputy Chief Lorenzo Robertson said firefighters reached them before they did and brought them down by ladder.
Fire officials said a man and a woman, both in their 50s, were taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital in serious condition. They had suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation. A firefighter who hurt an ankle was also taken to a local hospital.
Resident D'Angelo Rush said he stepped outside and saw a huge fire and a cloud of smoke. As people hurried out of the building, he ran upstairs to warn neighbors. "I went upstairs. My neighbor, I know she has a young kid. I knocked and banged on her door, woke her up, got her out," Rush said. He also got his mother and her husband out.
Four families were displaced. The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and the City of Detroit's Homeland Security and Emergency Management office were at the scene offering food, shelter assistance and other resources while displaced residents waited outside in cold conditions. Deputy Director Christopher Dixon of the city's emergency management office said a warming bus would be stationed on LaSalle "until we determine whether they can return to their residence."
According to fire officials, crews reached the scene within five minutes of the call and confined the fire to roughly one-third of one apartment building, keeping it from spreading further. Robertson said the department reviews its response times every week under the direction of its commissioner. "We're pretty quick, pretty fast when it comes to fires," he said.
Rush said he was thankful for the speed of the response. "Thank God DPD and the Detroit Fire came when they did cause like, it really could've been worse," he said. "But like, it's a scary time."
The Detroit Fire Department said the cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation.
Source: WXYZ Channel 7
