YPSILANTI, Mich. — One woman was in serious condition and another man was injured in a fire that required a dramatic rescue from a downtown Ypsilanti building early Thursday morning. Fifteen residents of the apartment building needed assistance from the Red Cross following the blaze and were displaced.
Ypsilanti Fire Department Captain Dan Cain said firefighters were dispatched at 12:45 a.m. Thursday to 209 Pearl St., where Frank D’s barbershop is located. When they arrived, they found a fully involved fire, Cain said.
One occupant of the building was hanging out of a window trying to escape the fire, Cain said. Firefighters used a ground ladder to climb up and rescue that person.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
