LOCAL 693
Police, firefighters rescue residents trapped in burning apartments in Ann Arbor
Updated On: Apr 26, 2013

Police, firefighters rescue residents trapped in burning apartments in Ann Arbor

Editor's note: This article was updated at midnight with new information from the Ann Arbor Fire Department.

Police and firefighters rescued four people from a burning apartment building in Ann Arbor Sunday night, Ann Arbor Fire Department Battalion Chief Kevin Cook said.

Ann Arbor police were first to the scene of the fire at 1310 Packard St. shortly after it was reported about 9:05 p.m.

Officers ran into the burning building and rescued a resident in a second-floor apartment, Cook said. Firefighters who arrived a short time later rescued three more people from the third floor, he said. Those residents had put towels over their heads to block smoke, Fire Chief Chuck Hubbard said.

Three of the residents and three police officers went to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, Cook said. Huron Valley Ambulance spokeswoman Joyce Williams said HVA paramedics took them in two ambulances to the University of Michigan Hospital. All were in stable condition, she said.

Hubbard praised the police and firefighters for their heroism in getting the residents to safety.

"You've got to make a difference," he said. "That's what we're trying to do. Make a difference in our community."

Heavy flames coming from the front of the building greeted firefighters when they arrived, Cook said.

The fire was mostly contained to two apartments on the west side of the three-story apartment building near Packard Street and Granger Avenue, firefighters said. Those apartments were declared a total loss, but all residents in the building were displaced. The building has six units, Cook said.

Firefighters had the blaze under control by 9:25 p.m., Cook said. They were packing up their hoses and equipment shortly before 11 p.m.

A fire investigator was beginning to look into the cause Sunday night, but it had yet not been determined.

All Ann Arbor units fought the fire, and firefighters from Ypsilanti and Pittsfield and Ypsilanti Townships provided mutual aid.

While firefighters were battling the blaze on Packard, a report came in of a woman suffering a possible heart attack on the northwest side of the city, Cook said. Ypsilanti firefighters who were battling the blaze on Packard Street responded to that call. The woman survived and was taken to a hospital, he said.

It was the second significant apartment fire in Washtenaw County in less than a week. A fire that started when grease caught fire on the kitchen stove caused extensive damage to a building at the Schooner Cove Apartment complex in Ypsilanti Township Monday afternoon. An Ann Arbor firefighter rescued two cats in the fire.


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Contact Info
Ann Arbor Firefighters Local 693

Ann Arbor, MI 48104
 

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