Fire Causes Major Damage at Plymouth Apartment Building
No injuries reported in Thursday apartment fire.
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A fire that broke out shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday has caused major damage at a Plymouth apartment building.
As of 3 p.m., the fire is mostly put out with a few stray flames, and no injuries have been reported.
The fire affected units in the 14071, 14073, 14075 and 14077 buildings of Lake Pointe Village Apartments located off Wilcox Road south of M-14 and just west of Haggerty Road and I-275.
An estimated 16 apartment units were affected by the fire. Residents were evacuated and there are no reports of injuries at this time.
Fire spread to attic
Plymouth Township Fire Chief Mark Wendel said his crews responded shortly after 11 a.m. on a report of a fully engulfed apartment unit.
By that point, he said, the fire had spread to the attic area and spread to an attached apartment building.
"Once it got up into the attic, it just took off from there," Wendel said. "So it was just a matter of trying to catch it. That was the problem."
Linda Ruonavaara, a resident of one of the buildings, said she was at home when the fire started.
"I was in the bedroom texting and I thought I smelled something funny," she said. "Then I heard a fire engine in the distance."
Ruonavaara said an officer then began banging on all of the doors, asking everyone to get out.
Wendel said there were reports of pets still in the building that likely died in the fire. There were reports at the scene of at least one dog that died in the fire.
Wendel said an investigation still needs to take place to determine a possible cause.
There were reports at the scene of a resident hearing an explosion at about the time the fire started, but Wendel said that wouldn't necessarily be the cause of a fire.
"That's not uncommon," Wendel said. "When you have a significant fire going, aerosol cans and whatnot get super heated and they blow up."
Wendel said he expects crews to remain at the scene for several more hours to ensure the fire is completely extinguished, clean up the scene and investigate the cause.
He said the cold, windy conditions affected his crew's efforts to battle the blaze.
"The wind always affects the fires, especially once it breaks through the roof," Wendel said. "The wind's just going to carry those flames and heat that fire up fast and it's just going to run."
Wendel said it isn't likely any of the units will be salvageable, as the fire gutted the apartment buildings.
Service groups assist fire victims
Allison Koenigbauer, a regional communications officer from the American Red Cross, said the Red Cross is offering food, shelter and clothing assistance to the residents.
Plymouth Township, Livonia, Northville-Plymouth and Northville Township fire departments all responded and battled the fire for hours.
Check back with this story for more information and photos from the scene.
Do you have any photos of the fire? Share them by clicking "Upload Photos and Videos" or email them to rebecca.jaskot@patch.com.
Correction: The name of the Red Cross representative was misreported. It has been corrected.
Bryan Bentley
1:04 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Going by the videos I saw, Livonia had three times the resources at a small restaurant fire yesterday. This was an apartment building with multiple lives at stake. What if this had happened in the middle of the night? It would have been a tragedy! Richard Reaume; Ron Edwards; Kay Arnold; Robert Doroshewitz; Steven Mann, and Michael Kelly.
Smileyone
6:18 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Gimme a break....did you read how many other departments were there also????
Linda Johnson
7:29 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Going by the video? Really? This is how you based your opinion when you weren't even there? Quit living in the past Bryan because what happened with the township firefighters is over and you need to get over it. I've actually spoken to a couple of current township firefighters who are trying to move on and get past everything that happened during the last couple of years. All they want is to try and keep their jobs and believe it or not, are happy that a few bad apples have either retired or are no longer on the department because those are the ones who didn't want to negotiate with the township and who were too stubborn to see the writing on the wall. You and the rest of the people who have harbored this grudge against the township need to let it go because no matter how well the fire department performs you will always find ways to denegrate it until you get your way.
Linda Johnson
11:53 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Bryan, it sounds as if you're hoping someone dies or gets killed because only then will you be able to say "see, I told ya so". What a sick way to live.
John
4:25 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
I wonder if they could have caught the fire and brought it under control quickly if the fire station within sight of the apartment complex had been open?
Smileyone
6:18 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Was is not open????
Smileyone
6:18 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Budget cuts, let's make the people unsafe!The people who pay taxes to live there!
Bryan Bentley
5:31 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
An excellent question John. Mr. Reaume? Mr. Edwards? Can you answer that question?
Linda Johnson
11:33 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
John, when the call came in Huron Valley Ambulance, who just happened to be in the area, were the first ones on the scene and reported flames coming through the roof. By that time the damage was already done whether you were down the street or miles away. And given the age of those apartments, they are a tinder box just waiting to happen.
Alynn
12:40 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
mk John, lets see here. first of all, wondering "what if's" dont change what already happened. second, do you even know how quickly a fire spreads? fire can spread in the matter of 1 minute far enough. do you think that they can be there within 1 minute? realistically speaking, it would most likely be a response time of 2 to 3 minutes regardless of if they are right across the street or not.. do you also know that oxygen fuels a fire? did you already take into account that the winds were high at the time of the apartment fire as well as the fire at the rams horn in livonia? did you take into account any drive time needed to get there while speeding and going through reds, sirens blaring and lights flashing? did you take into account the men that are on call which means they arent sitting on their bums at the station wasting tax dollars? did you take into account that when the roof caves in that allows more air to fuel the fire? did you take into account the flamable things inside like clothes, rugs, blankets, furniture, flamable hair products, a wooden coffee table, etc? i mean seriously man....think about things before you try to criticize the township for their budget cuts.
TMNI
6:18 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
I was wondering the same thing. I hope getting their "revenge" was worth it...idiots.
I would really like to know what we as Plymouth residents can do to help? Do they need anything? How can we rally around these people? This is Plymouth, we help each other in our community. It's what makes us great.
Linda Johnson
6:18 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Maybe you should ask the firefighters first since they're the ones who refused to negotiate with the township until it was too late. And last I heard they voted out their inept union leader for screwing up those negotiations. By the way, I was at the Livonia fire and saw the resources that they used at the scene and it compares to what I saw at today's scene. Quit trying to make nothing into something. Pot stirrer.
Bryan Bentley
7:16 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
So you are saying that Plymouth Township had the same resources at the scene as Livonia FD at Rams Horn?
Are you counting Plymouth Township, Northville Township, Northville, and Livonia in that total, or just the resources that Plymouth Township had on the scene?
Bryan Bentley
10:43 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Linda, I find it very appropriate that your last name is Johnson. ;)
Smileyone
9:09 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
I personally know some of the firefighters from all the departments on scene and was told that there was the same amount of equipment and responders on scene. You're comparing apples to oranges...Livonia has more citizens and therefore larger tax base therefore more equipment, staff etc etc. You know the answer to your questions, you're beating a dead horse. When this economy recovers and people are willing to pay for better equipment, staff etc then maybe things will improve. And you know that too. I'm sure you're disappointed, so are the people who work more with less, but they continue to do their jobs.
Let's commend the firefighter's who put their life on the line and thank God that no one was injured or killed.
EBC
9:09 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Good reporting & glad you could get there to let the community know first hand what happened.
Doug
1:28 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
It's a shame that a disgruntled (union) firefighter can't see that when we all pitch in we can get things done (i.e. 4 different responding departments). I'm certain when the investigation is complete we will see that it went up quick and one unit from across the street (if it was still there) would not have made much of a dent in this fire. If Livonia needed our assistance I'm sure Plymouth Twp. would provide.
FYI - I live near this fire and saw that everyone (including Parkway Veterinary) did a fantastic job.
Alynn
4:24 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
the vet did do a great job! a couple of the firefighters rescued 2 cats from there and one was in some pretty bad shape and they rushed it up to the vet place and i believe both cats have been reunited with their family :)
Bryan Bentley
6:09 pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Linda Johnson
11:53 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
Bryan, it sounds as if you're hoping someone dies or gets killed because only then will you be able to say "see, I told ya so". What a sick way to live.
Linda, I have flagged the commennt you made above as inappropriate, and I hope management deletes it because of the disgusting nature of your comment. You show me ANYWHERE where I intimate in any way whatsoever that I wish people to die so I can say "I told you so." I have said nothing of the sort, and you can't twist my words in any possible way to make it seem so. When you can't make an argument or a point with facts, your history shows that you resort to name calling and smears.
Anybody that know me, knows that I would never wish such a thing! Not even on the fools that made the decision to gut the fire department.
Shame on you Linda Johnson.
John Jacob
4:34 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
I have a pretty good idea that you would Mr. Bentley. I have been following your "blog" posts for some time now and I am under the impression that you certainly would do an "I told you so" to the board for closing the fire station. Even though it is not the boards fault. Have you realized that the fire station was planned to stay open but your so heroic firefighters kept on wanting to be money grabbers and take every plymouth township had. For working a third of the year and to be making over six figures with benefits is insane to think of. But bloggers wouldn't understand what actual work really is. Also, were you actually at the fire in Livonia or are you going off of pictures for your argument?