Police officers try in vain to rescue man from fire

Two Columbus police officers desperately tried but failed to kick down a door and rescue a man caught in an early Friday morning house fire in Linden, a neighbor who witnessed the attempt said.

Emergency responders received the report of a fire in the 1400 block of Republic Avenue at 4:25 a.m. Friday, said Battalion Chief Steve Martin, a Columbus Fire spokesman.

Firefighters arrived to find a small single-story house ablaze. They discovered the body of a single occupant, a 57-year-old man, during a search. He was pronounced dead at 4:40 a.m., Martin said.

Officials had not released the man’s name Friday night because they had yet been able to notify family.

Flames had burned out a large hole on the west side of the house, revealing a charred bathroom. One firefighter received a minor injury while battling the fire and was taken to a local hospital.

“Two officers tried to kick in the door,” said Khaleeqa Sadiika, 36, who lives across the street and was awakened by the fire and response.

Sadiika said firefighters told her they found the man near a side door — the only door he used to enter and exit the house, she said. “I was thinking maybe he was trying to get out,” she said.

Investigators determined the fire was caused by a pinched extension cord under a bed in an upstairs bedroom. There were smoke alarms in the house but investigators could not determine if the devices had been activated.

Evidence gathered by investigators suggests the man might have attempted to reach a fire extinguisher before collapsing in the kitchen from smoke and carbon monoxide inhalation.

“This is the second fire in a week where the occupant has attempted to fight the fire instead of exiting the house and waiting for the fire department,” Capt. Jeff Martin of the Fire and Explosive Investigations Unit said in a statement.

Sadiika and other neighbors said they rarely saw the man, to the point that they sometimes wondered whether anyone was living there. But then he would appear, working on his yard or walking home from an apparent job, wearing a green vest and hardhat, as if he was doing some sort of construction work. They almost never saw visitors.

“He didn’t drive,” said Michael Miller, 57, another neighbor. “He always walked right down the street,” coming or going toward nearby Cleveland Avenue, Miller said.

If an autopsy by the Franklin County coroner’s office confirms the fire caused the victim’s death, this will be Columbus’ 11th fire death of the year.