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Burlington fire leaves half dozen homeless
Originally published 03:44 p.m., February 6, 2009
Updated 09:27 p.m., February 7, 2009
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Burlington Fire
Firefighters battled a blaze at the Division Street Apartments in Burlington Friday.
BURLINGTON — A Burlington apartment fire that destroyed a four-unit building and left six people homeless Friday morning was not arson, according to the state fire marshal’s office.
Firefighters from five local departments worked to extinguish the flames that rose from the Division Street Apartments on Township Road 1335. The fire ignited in the computer room of one of the two upstairs apartments, said Dale Jackson Sr., who co-owns the apartment complex with his son and daughter-in-law.
“At this time the exact cause of the fire has not been determined,” said Shane Cartmill, public information officer for the state fire marshal. “However, investigators say there are no indications of criminal intent or arson.”
It was started in the upstairs of the structure in apartment 8, in the area of a sofa, Cartmill said.
All tenants safely vacated the building, but at least three animals were unable to be saved from the flaming building, owners said.
William Edwards, the tenant who occupied the apartment where the fire started, said his best guess was one of his three cats had chewed through electrical wires.
Just a year ago, one of Edwards’ cats had been electrocuted and killed by gnawing on computer cords, Jackson said.
Edwards, who occasionally does maintenance work for his landlords, was working in a neighboring apartment building when the fire ignited. Helen Bryan, who lived in the adjoining upstairs apartment, was the first to become aware of the fire.
“I was inside and my smoke alarm started going off,” said Bryan, who occupied the residence with her 17-year-old daughter and 23-year-old son.
“I looked around my apartment, but I couldn’t find anything. So I opened the hallway door and smoke started pouring inside.”
Bryan’s two children were still sleeping at the time, but they all quickly vacated the apartment.
The only other occupant in the building was a woman in one of the two ground-floor apartments who safely left the building with her two dogs, Bryan said.
Neither Edwards nor Bryan had an active renter’s insurance policy. Bryan said she was in the process of acquiring insurance, and, before the news of the fire, an insurance representative was scheduled to take photographs of the premises today.
Co-owner of the apartment Brandi Jackson said she was not worried about the physical building but was concerned with the people who lived inside.
“There are four people who have nowhere to go,” Brandi said. “In the blink of an eye, they have nothing. I could care less about the building.”
Brandi empathizes with the tenants because she was once herself a victim of a house fire.
“There are still days I think, ‘Oh, I had something like that,’ and realize it was gone a long time ago,” she said.
Jackson said he plans to rebuild the complex.
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Comments
Posted by falinrok (anonymous) on February 6, 2009 at 6:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
yeha joe ...
Posted by michaelOH (anonymous) on February 6, 2009 at 8:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Only one comment huh? Sad.
Posted by sherrymersh05 (anonymous) on February 8, 2009 at 10:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a tragedy..the owners were warned last month when the water pipes ruptured and all the water ran down the walls into the wiring there. nothing was done about that.. and I know the family of the upstairs apt that woke to the sound of the smoke alarm. The teenage girl had very valuable things she cant replace. from her grandmother who is now passed.. like a guitar from pied piper that her grandmother taught piano there. She had a guitar that said piper on it cant replace that..let alone her writings she is a great writer and a wonderful singer of music and poems all lost.. they had about 250 dvd collection..and had just gotten a brand new computer and got it online the day before. Helen (the mother) had gifts that were from her grandchildren that are gone and yes, they will all have post tramatic stress from the loss of everything even a house plant a boston fern that was bigger than I have ever seen and again all lost I have had a few calls for clothing donations.. but the oldest son richard works at subway in south point and they are donating all the tips to the family go eat a sub today or just stop in to help this wonderful family.. or if u have things for the house to donate or clothes call 740-451-0877 and my son and her son will come pick up furniture or clothes..but all money donations should go thru richards work at subway.. thanks and God Bless u all... and thank u God for getting my best friends out alive.....
Posted by jackson (anonymous) on February 8, 2009 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Im sorry but the water pipes freezing and busting did not aide in the fire. If that was so, then the fire would have started when the pipes burst almost 3 weeks ago. And I would have got shocked when I went to the busted pipes. Even though, if it did hit the wires, the fire would have started almost immediately or would have tripped breakers. That did not happen. So whoever told you this has no electrical background at all. The guitar was salvaged and so was a lot of other things in Helens apt. So what you have heard was hearsay and thats defimation of my character. My maintenence man lived in that building for God's sake. Dont you think he would have fixed anything else if it were wrong. Hes the only one that lost everything he owned. It started in his computer room under a fouton bed. I think before you spout off, you need to hear both sides of the story.
Another thing, if we are such bad landlords and don't take care of our places, then why is Helen and her family moving into another apt that we own? There are planty of other apartments in the community. I have done everything in my power to assist all of the tenants, including going in the apts after the fire was out to retrive medicines and other needs and valuables of the families. One of our teneants that lost everyhting is even staying at our house. So we are really bad people. So, if you have anything else to say, please feel free to e-mail me. Please remeber, Helen was not the only teneant in this building. Please pray that everything will work out for these families.
Posted by gatte_lee1 (anonymous) on February 8, 2009 at 5:59 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by jackson (anonymous) on February 8, 2009 at 7:34 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by juggalett (anonymous) on February 8, 2009 at 9:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I THANK GOD FOR THE FACT THAT EVERYONE GOT OUT OF THE FIRE ALIVE. I HAVE BEEN INVOVLED WITH THIS MAJOR ORDEAL WITH MY PARENTS AND IT IS TERRIBLE.
SECOND I USE TO RENT OFF OF THE JACKSON AND I HAVE BEEN FRIENDS WITH THEM FOR 10 OR SO YEARS. I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THEM NOT FIXING ANYTHING THAT WAS WRONG IN MY APARTMENT OR ANY OTHER APARTMENT IN THE COMPLEX THAT I RENTED OFF THEM AT. THEY ARE VERY UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE AND CARE ABOUT THEIR TENANTS WELL BEING AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE PROPER HEAT AND AIR DURING THE SEASON TO WHICH THEY ARE CALLED FOR. NO MATTER HOW COLD OR HOW HOT IT IS OUTSIDE.
THIRD, FOR THIS PERSON TO SAY THAT THE STUFF CAN'T BE REPLACED, YES IT CAN'T BE REPLACED, BUT I WOULD THINK THAT THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN THAT APARTMENT WOULD RATHER HAVE THEIR LIVE THAN THE MATERIAL THINGS, BECAUSE LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MATERIAL THINGS. I UNDERSTAND THAT IT BELONG TO HER GRANDMOTHER, BUT THE MEMORIES OF HER GRANDMOTHER PLAYING THAT GUITAR SHOULD MEAN MORE TO HER THAN THE GUITAR.
FOURTH, THE JACKSON'S HAVE GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY TO MAKE SURE THAT EACH AND EVERY TENANT THAT WAS INVOVLED IN THAT FIRE HAS A PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEAD AND TO CALL HOME IN THE PAST TWO DAYS SINCE THE FIRE HAS HAPPENED. THEY HAVE PLACED THEM IN OTHER APARTMENTS AND HOUSES THAT THEY OWN. THEY HAVE EVEN HELPED THEM PACK THEIR STUFF AND MOVE IT OUT OF THE BURNT BUILDING AND MOVE NEW STUFF IN TO THEIR NEW PLACES. BEFORE YOU PASS JUDGEMENT ON THEM YOU NEED TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND PASS JUDGEMENT ON YOURSELF.
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