13 people displaced after fire destroys apartment building

UPDATE@ 7 p.m.:

A grease fire started while a woman was cooking french fries likely sparked the East Cornell Woods Drive apartment building fire that displaced 13 people from four units Thursday afternoon.

No one was injured.

“My son-in-law called me and told me the building’s on fire,” said Serena Rucker, who said she often visits from her nearby house to babysit her grandchildren. “My grand kids were at school. Thank God.”

One of Rucker’s family members collapsed on the sidewalk when she found out she had lost all her possessions not long after a Dayton firefighter carried a small child into a waiting bus.

“We just take care of their emergency needs right now,” said Matt Ingram, disaster team leader for the Dayton chapter of the America Red Cross. “We put them in a hotel if they need. If they have a place to stay, we’ll give them some money for food. We just make sure they have clothes.”

Dayton fire officials said the blaze at 3719 East Cornell Woods Drive started at about 2 p.m. Thursday in the building that housed 16 units, most of which were unoccupied. Officials said the fire started in a third-floor apartment, and that the woman tried to throw flour and other things on the flames before 911 was called.

“There’s a fire,” a man inside the apartment told a 911 dispatcher. “It’s an oil fire in the kitchen.”

Firefighters went into a “defensive mode” as soon as they checked to make sure everyone was safely out of the four units, officials said, noting that the building nearly collapsed.

“We had some collapse, we had the roof burn off of it,” Dayton Fire District Chief Tim Rose said. “It got up above the ceiling into the truss area, which didn’t have a fire stop, ran to two different buildings and we stopped it at the third.”

Rucker said her family’s apartment did not have smoke detectors, but at least one other resident said they had a smoke detector.

“This girl called me and said, Greg, get out of the house — get out of the house — I said, ‘What?’ So I got up and looked and I saw all of the smoke,” said resident Greg Flamer.

Firefighters said the woman in the apartment where the fire stated was checked for smoke inhalation and refused further treatment. She was seen walking away in shorts draped in a white blanket.

UPDATE @ 3:25p.m.:

Fire crews on the scene of a large apartment complex fire on Cornell Woods Drive tell us they fear the unstable, heavily damaged structure, could collapse.

Fire destroyed 13 apartment units late Thursday afternoon. Smoke and water damaged at least six additional units.

Four of the units were occupied by residents, and early reports indicate everyone evacuated safely.

One resident told our videographer he was lying on his couch when he received a phone call to get out because the building was on fire.

Many of the units at the complex have been vacant for awhile. Early reports indicate cooking may have been the cause, but our crews are waiting to obtain official information on a cause from fire commanders on the scene.

FIRST REPORT:

A fire is burning at an apartment complex in the 3700 block of Cornell Wood Dr. at the dead end. Firefighters are describing at least three apartments involved and flames coming through the roof on police and fire scanners.

We have a photographer at the scene and will bring you more information as it comes in.