SAGINAW TOWNSHIP (WJRT) - (01/22/06)-- Nearly 180 people are waking up away from home today. Saturday morning a fire nearly destroyed the Lakeside Village Apartment Complex in Saginaw Township.
Many of the residents were taken to nearby hotels, others are now with their families.
The fire started early Saturday morning as people slept.
"I was gonna watch television, I was going to have my breakfast, I was just going to stay home and relax," said resident Randy Clark.
It was supposed to be a typical weekend for Randy Clark and his mother, who both live on the third floor. Instead he woke up to Firefighters knocking at his door.
"I was scared. I didn't know what was going on. I just woke up out of a sleep and everybody was running out of the building and the hallways were full of smoke and I didn't know what to do," Clark said.
Fifteen crews from across Saginaw County were called in to rescue people who live in the complex.
Saginaw Township Fire Chief Jim Peterson said most of them are elderly. "A building this size, you need a number of firefighters to make sure all the residents were evacuated."
The flames forced some out on their balconies without proper clothing. Many left everything behind.
"I'm on diabetes (medication) and my medicine is upstairs and I was going to stay home and relax. Now I don't know if we could get our stuff or not," wondered Clark.
Now without a home and without a return date, Randy Clark, his mother, and the 180 people of Lakeside Village have to figure out what to do next. "We have no where to go," he said. "My mom and I are kind of homeless, so we don't know where we're going to go."
It's believed the fire began in the mechanical room and spread up to each floor. A fire investigator will be at the site today or tomorrow.
