CLEVELAND, Ohio — Firefighters used ladders to rescue two people from windows during a fire late Monday night at a four-story apartment building on the city’s West Side
Overall, 16 people escaped from the building located at 1384 West 83rd St., said Battalion Chief Tony Missig.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Missig said it started in an apartment on the second floor. The flames managed to get in-between the walls and worked their way up to the roof.
By the time firefighters arrived at about 11:30 p.m., smoke was showing from the roof and was beginning to transition into flames, Missig said.
People stand outside an apartment building that caught fire on Cleveland’s West Side, hoping for a chance to get inside to check on the damage.Cliff Pinckard, NEOMG
While most residents were able to escape on their own, two on second floor, one on the south side and another on the north, went to their windows because too much smoke was in the hallway.
One of those rescued, a 31-year-old man who declined to give his name, said he was watching TV when he heard fire alarms go off and smelled smoke.
“I was going to jump out of the window till the firemen brought a ladder to the window,” he said.
No one was injured, but Missig said the building, which has 24 units, was heavily damaged. The Red Cross was called to the scene to assist displaced residents.
Temperatures were hovering around 10 degrees at the time of the fire, but Missig said the cold did not cause any problems with the equipment.
“We were lucky today. The water flowed well,” he said.
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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