Apartment fire near UT displaces 6

10/7/2012
BY JANE SCHMUCKER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
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    UT engineering student Yazeed Airwaili, 27, says he tried to find out if his neighbors were in the apartment when the fire started, but the heat and flames were too intense.

    The Blade/Jetta Fraser
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  • UT engineering student Yazeed Airwaili, 27, says he tried to find out if his neighbors were in the apartment when the fire started, but the heat and flames were too intense.
    UT engineering student Yazeed Airwaili, 27, says he tried to find out if his neighbors were in the apartment when the fire started, but the heat and flames were too intense.

    A firefighter suffered what were thought to be minor injuries Sunday evening while battling a fire at Campus Village, a student-oriented apartment complex, at 1473 Secor Rd., across from the University of Toledo. The fire was caused by food left unattended on a stove.

    Battalion Chief Bob Krause said the firefighter, whom he did not identify, was taken to Toledo Hospital. The firefighter tripped while setting up a waterline and injured his neck and back, the chief said. He was expected to be released.

    The fire broke out shortly after 8 p.m. in Apartment 14 on the second floor of the two-story complex and spread to the attic, Chief Krause said. About six residents were displaced but were to spend the night in other Campus Village units. The complex hit by the fire has dozens of apartments, officials said.

    Chief Krause said a resident of Apartment 14 deep-frying chicken left to go to a store.

    A ladder truck from the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department is used to reach the fire on the second floor of Campus Village.
    A ladder truck from the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department is used to reach the fire on the second floor of Campus Village.

    A resident, Yazeed Alrwaili, 27, an engineering student, said he felt the heat in his nearby apartment and went to investigate. “I broke the door [to the apartment] and something fell from the ceiling,” he said, but smoke and heat made it too difficult to enter.

    Chief Krause said crews arrived 3 minutes after the alarm and saw smoke and flames coming from the roof, door, and windows of the apartment. He estimated the loss at $20,000. Fire crews were at Campus Village this summer to practice and to examine the complex’s layout, a move he said aided crews’ extinguishing the fire within 15 minutes and confining damage. Apartments 13 and 15 on each side of the affected unit suffered some damage, he said.

    About the same time, firefighters were called to West Toledo. Crews called to 4217 Asbury Dr. at 8:38 p.m. found flames and heavy smoke from the second floor and attic of the single-family home, Fire Lt. Thomas Kuhman said. The fire was under control at 8:53 p.m., but three adults and three children turned to the Red Cross for housing assistance.

    No one was hurt; residents were alerted by a smoke detector, the lieutenant said. The Lucas County auditor lists the house owner as Blue Bay Properties LLC.