3 People Rescued in Huge “Vacant” Building Fire in Detroit

Detroit — Three people were rescued Sunday morning after firefighters battled a massive blaze in an abandoned apartment building next to a church on the city’s west side.

The four-story building, off Lincoln and Brainard streets near Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., ignited before 6 a.m. after people staying in the structure started a fire, probably to keep warm, officials say. The fire began in the basement and soon was out of control, officials said.

They said three people, probably squatters were rescued and taken to area hospitals.

By 8:30 a.m. the fire was mostly contained and the Detroit Fire Department was spraying long plumes of water into broken windows on the upper floors and roof to keep the blaze from spreading.

The building, next to the I Am My Brother’s Keeper Ministries, has been empty for more than five years, neighbors said. The smoke and fire could be seen from Interstate 75 and downtown.

Angelica Carrell, who lives in an apartment down the street, said she was coming home from work at 7 a.m. when she saw the smoke.

“First thought I had was, ‘is that my house’, because it was so close,” she said. “I drove up and all I saw were seven or eight fire trucks and police cars lined up on Martin Luther King.”

She said she’s lived in the area for four years and she’s seen people going in and coming out of the boarded up apartment building.

“It’s possible people were in there trying to stay warm,” she said. “They were probably homeless.”

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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.

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