A firefighter was injured Sunday evening while battling a fire that was caused by unattended food being cooked in a student-oriented apartment complex at Campus Village, 1473 Secor Road, across from the University of Toledo.
Battalion Chief Bob Krause said the injured firefighter, whom he did not identify, was taken to Toledo Hospital. The firefighter tripped while establishing a water line and injured his neck and back, the chief said.
The fire broke out shortly after 8 p.m. in Apartment 14 on the second floor of the two story complex and spread to the attic, Chief Krause said.
Six residents were displaced, but would be resettled in other units of the complex, which has 20 apartments, officials said.
Chief Krause said the unidentified resident of Apartment 14, who was deep-frying chicken, left the building to go to the store.
Jenae Walker, a UT sophomore from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, who lives in a neighboring unit, she and her friends smelled smoke and went outside to investigate.
Another resident, Yazeed Alrwaili, 27, an engineering student, said he felt the heat in his adjacent apartment and also went outside to investigate.
"I broke the door [to the apartment] and something fell from the ceiling," he said, but smoke and heat made it too difficult to enter.
Chief Krause said fire crews arrived at the complex within 3 minutes of getting the alarm and saw smoke and flames shooting from the roof, door and window of the apartment.
He estimated the loss at $20,000.
Fire crews were at Campus Village this summer to practice and examine the layout of the complex, a move he attributed to crews' quick action in extinguishing the fire within 15 minutes and confining the damage.
Apartments 13 and 15 on either side of the affected unit suffered some damage, he said.
"Everything went like we planned and practiced to do," Chief Krause said.
Copyright 2012 - The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
