Highland Apartment Fire

[Jude Petkus]

Firefightersresponded to a report of a grass fire on the lawn of the building in the 1300 block of St. Paul Avenue about 4:20 p.m. Saturday. Wind gusts of 22 mph and dry conditions contributed to the fire spreading rapidly from trees against the apartment building to attic space above third-floor apartments, Mokosso said.

28 people are without a home after a fire ripped through a Virginia-Highland apartment complex overnight. While crews spent much of their day putting out hot spots, neighbors took the time to put together donations for the affected families.

She died in an early morning fire at her apartment on April 17. Dozens of other residents of the building were rescued by firefighters after the blaze began around 4:45 a.m., according to the Indianapolis Fire Department.

Some residents of the three-story apartment building could not evacuate through the structure and jumped from balconies. There was a delay in attacking the blaze due to the number of residents who needed rescue from all sides of the building, according to the fire department.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials believe it started on the first floor then quickly reached the second and third floors. It filled the entire structure with black smoke, blocking building exits for many residents.

No one was harmed, but more than a dozen fire departments responded to a fire in the Town of Brookfield that broke out in the attic of a senior apartment complex Tuesday, according to the town's Assistant Fire Chief Tony D'Amico.

The department got dispatched around 2:30 p.m. to the Brookfield Highlands senior apartment complex, 20825 George Hunt Circle, D'Amico said. He said about 12 other fire departments from surrounding municipalities also responded to the fire.

That included the fire departments of the City of Brookfield, City and Village of Waukesha, Elm Grove, New Berlin, Pewaukee, Wauwatosa, Sussex, Lisbon, Vernon, West Allis and Menomonee Falls, the Waukesha Freeman reported.

D'Amico said maintenance crews at the complex smelled the fire and alerted residents, so the majority of residents had evacuated by the time the fire departments arrived. It's not clear how many people evacuated the building.

It took crews about 45 minutes to get the fire under control, according to D'Amico. He estimates the fire caused about $125,000 worth of damage. He said repairs will need to be made to the roof and at least two units sustained water damage.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Town of Brookfield's fire department. Representatives of the Brookfield Highlands did not immediately answer a phone call and an email requesting comment on the fire.

Firefighters reported smoke and flames in the attic spaces of the building, he said. They were able to get the fire under control and contain the fire to the attic space above the third floor within several minutes, Fifield said. Other areas of the 5-unit apartment building sustained water damage, he said.

The building housed more than 20 tenants who were all being assisted by the American Red Cross, which is using the Auburn Senior Community Center to coordinate assistance to the occupants, he said.Advertisement

Auburn Fire units were assisted on scene by the Lewiston Fire Department, Auburn Police Department, Auburn Public Works, Central Maine Power Company and the Auburn Water & Sewerage Districts, he said.

One tenant said about 20 people live in the apartment building. There were some neighbors and tenants outside the apartment building as crews worked on the scene. By 11:30 a.m., firefighters were allowing some tenants to retrieve items from some apartments.

The Highland Village Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to over 16,000 citizens in a 5.5 square mile radius as well as support to neighboring departments. This is done through pre-planning, prevention, and a constant state of readiness with personnel on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

The Fire Operations division consists of a frontline and reserve Paramedic Engine, a frontline and reserve MICU Medic, a Type 6 Wildland Engine, and utility vehicle. We have three shifts (A, B, and C), with a full staff of 6, and the ability to work with a minimum staff of 5, assigned to each shift with additional "power hour" personnel to work during peak demand times. Our emergency crews work 48 hours on shift and 96 hours off with a noon shift change.

Our personnel develop pre-fire plans of businesses and apartment complexes, maintain our equipment and fire station, conduct fire training on a daily basis, visit local schools, community events, and child care facilities to present public education messages, and provide station tours to the public, all while responding to a variety of emergency calls and non-emergency public assistance calls.

The EMS Operations division consists of a frontline and reserve MICU capable Medic equipped with Advanced Life Support (ALS) equipment and manned by two firefighter/paramedics. Along with our MICU Medics, the Department also responds with a Paramedic Engine manned with a minimum of three personnel that are firefighter/paramedic certified. This way, immediate patient care can be initiated by the first arriving unit.

Our EMS personnel attend monthly and quarterly classes that satisfy the Texas Department of State Health Services Continuing Education requirements. There is a Field Training Preceptor (FTP) assigned to each shift and they are responsible for providing training and development for new, as well as, incumbent paramedics.

The Training Division coordinates a vast array of classes and realistic drills or exercises for our fire and EMS personnel. The goal is for our personnel to retain muscle memory through repetitive training which enhances proper execution and reduces injuries on an emergency scene.

Our Department schedules a minimum of 20 hours of monthly fire related training, which exceeds the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) requirement of 18 hours of continuing education annually for a certified firefighter with an additional 2 hours for each discipline (certification) they acquire. With this in mind, our personnel complete daily firefighting drills such as pumping, hose and ladder deployment, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) use and maintenance, and survival/rescue skills.

Recently, the Highland Village City Council authorized an interlocal agreement for the construction and operation of a state-of-the-art, joint fire training facility with the City of Lewisville and Town of Flower Mound. This facility is slated for completion at the end of 2022 or early 2023. This facility will provide our Department with the ability to create real-to-life environments to help prepare our firefighters to respond to all emergency incidents, especially the high risk, low frequency events. It will also facilitate interagency and multi-company fire training.

All of the Highland Village Fire Department suppression personnel are certified Wildland Firefighters. They have been trained on the different techniques and equipment involved in combatting wildland fires. We are mobilized to statewide as well as out-of-state deployments through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS) which is maintained by the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Wildland firefighters are required to earn 4 additional hours of wildland continuing education annually on top of the required training to maintain structural firefighter certification.

On Saturday, January 9, 2016, at approximately 1315 hours, Highland Park (MI) Engine 2 was dispatched to a reported vacant five-story apartment building on fire. See photos from the scene by Dennis Walus.

While en route, Central Office reported multiple calls and reported they were sending a full box alarm assignment. Engine 2 arrived on the scene and reported a working fire and that firefighters were stretching.

Detroit Chief 5 arrived on the scene and assumed incident command and requested two additional engines and chief. Chief 5 then requested a full second alarm. Chief 5 reported a vacant five-tory apartment building with approximately 100 units with fire on the second through fifth floor.

Because of heavy fire and conditions of the building, all crews were ordered out of the building and crews set up for defensive operations. Towers were set up on the A, B, and C sides of the building. Companies operated at this scene for several hours to bring this fire under control.

Complex management was working with an electrician late Monday night to see if the apartments would be safe to live in. It wasn't immediately clear if any residents were temporarily displaced, Williams said.

Fire investigators said fireworks caused multiple fires on Sunday night, including at least two dumpster fires. Brockton was forced to enlist help from the Avon Fire Department due to the multiple fires.

Enterprise senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email at cshe...@enterprisenews.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @cshepard_ENT. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.

The incident began about 3:30 a.m. on the 3900 block of Madison Avenue when authorities say a man who was taking part in an informal child visitation refused to give up the 1-year-old to his ex-girlfriend and held a knife to the infant. Another female child, who was in the apartment, called 911 as an argument between the adults escalated.

The boy and suspect were taken to a hospital. Metro Fire spokesman Capt. Parker Wilbourn said the suspect and infant are expected to survive; Rowe said the woman and her older child were not seriously injured by the fire. Three puppies who lived in the apartment were also rescued.

The incident shook residents of the Alder Grove complex, some of whom were evacuated by deputies as deputies and firefighters swooped in. Seven or eight neighboring apartments were damaged by the blaze, authorities said.

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