Apartment fi re injures one, displaces dozens
One person was treated for smoke inhalation and nearly 200 residents in two buildings at a North Side apartment complex were displaced Wednesday afternoon by a two-alarm fire.
Columbus firefighters received a call at 4:18 p.m. about a fire in a third-floor apartment in one building at the Winterwood Gardens apartment complex at 1980 Belcher Dr. off Walford Street, said Battalion Chief Steve Martin.
A second alarm was requested quickly for additional firefighters and water, Martin said. Firefighters rescued two residents leaning out a window using a ladder from the apartment complex’s maintenance department, he said. The rest of the building was evacuated.
Fire gutted the thirdfloor apartment where the blaze began, but was quickly knocked down, Martin said. Heavy smoke damage occurred throughout the building, he said.
Because electricity and gas service had to be cut off to the fire building and a neighboring apartment building at the complex due to the fire, nearly 200 residents were forced to find alternative housing at least for Wednesday night, said Jordan Tetting, communications director for the Red Cross Ohio Buckeye Region.
COTA buses were brought to the scene to keep residents warm while the Red Cross provided food and services and made housing arrangements, Tetting said. An emergency shelter began operations about 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Feddersen Community Recreation Center on the 3900 block of Dresden Street and will remain open as long as necessary while the agency works with the management of the apartment complex to return residents to the buildings, she said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.