B.G. man, 52, found deadin Main St. apartment fire

Bowling Green artist Clayton Peterson, who lives at 127 S. Main St., was escorted out of the front of the building about 1:30 a.m. Friday by first responders.

BOWLING GREEN — A man who died early Friday in a fire on South Main Street in Bowling Green was a factory worker who lived by himself and apparently was sick lately, a neighbor said.

Marshall B. Drake, 52, was found dead in his bed in a second-floor apartment above Serenity Spa & Salon, 127 S. Main, after the apartment fire was reported at 1:12 a.m., according to the Bowling Green Fire Department.

Paramedics from the Bowling Green Fire Division attempted to revive Mr. Drake, but were unsuccessful.

“He looked like he was ill lately, moving really slowly,” artist Clayton Peterson, a neighbor, said.

“He was a really nice guy, always said hello and would talk to you. And he always helped me carry stuff upstairs.”

Mr. Peterson went on to say that Mr. Drake was a smoker and apparently suffered from emphysema.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Mr. Drake was already living in the apartment when Mr. Peterson moved next door about three years ago, Mr. Peterson said.

Mr. Drake was employed at a factory not far from where he lived and often visited friends in Cleveland, his neighbor said.

Mr. Peterson said Mr. Drake worked nights and that it was probably because he was ill that he was home that night.

Fire authorities did not release any details about the blaze Friday.

Mr. Peterson, 56, said arriving police and fire crews woke him up about 1:30 a.m.

He was then escorted out of the front of the building and “saw all the smoke.”

He wasn’t allowed to return to his apartment until about 3 a.m., he said.

By about 10 a.m., there wasn’t much outside the victim’s apartment to indicate a fire had occurred.

A window by the front door was broken and covered with plywood.

The second-floor hallway smelled of smoke but the rest of the building appeared unaffected.

The autopsy was done Friday at the Wood County Coroner’s Office but no results were released, according to the office.

The salon on the first floor was open for business Friday.

Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com or 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.