[MCRogers1974]

Sources tell me one of the buildings in the Woodland Crossing apartment complex is on fire. I believe this complex is not within the corporate limits of Michigan City and is classified as rural La Porte County. As such, I believe the Coolspring Twp. Volunteer Fire Department would be battling the blaze.

[Southsider2k12]

Sources tell me one of the buildings in the Woodland Crossing apartment complex is on fire. I believe this complex is not within the corporate limits of Michigan City and is classified as rural La Porte County. As such, I believe the Coolspring Twp. Volunteer Fire Department would be battling the blaze.

Which one is Woodland Crossings?

And WIMS did just confirm the fire.

[MCRogers1974]

Woodland Crossing is the complex behind Naturally Wood - near Woodland Ave and US 20.

[Southsider2k12]

Thank you! I would imagine if it was as big as it sound, MC would be there to help out, especially because they are just down the road there.

Stay safe guys fighting this fire! Hopefully no people are in danger in the complex either.

[NDReporter]

Thank you! I would imagine if it was as big as it sound, MC would be there to help out, especially because they are just down the road there.

Stay safe guys fighting this fire! Hopefully no people are in danger in the complex either.

Update coming soon on the News-Dispatch site. No one hurt, thankfully, but up to eight families now homeless.

[Southsider2k12]

Update coming soon on the News-Dispatch site. No one hurt, thankfully, but up to eight families now homeless.

Thanks for the update. Glad to know all are OK.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...a7641029123.txt

Fire sweeps building at Woodland Crossing

Photo by Natalie Hoepf Residents stream away as fire rages in Building 310 at Woodland Crossing shortly after 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Upper level of eight-unit building destroyed
By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010 2:27 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — Families from an eight-unit apartment building are homeless after a blaze swept the upper level of one of the structures at Woodland Crossing apartment complex at Woodland Avenue and U.S. 20 Thursday morning.

The building at 310 Woods Edge Drive, as well as surrounding apartments and businesses, were evacuated quickly and no one was injured, said Jeff Santana, public information officer for the Michigan City Fire Department, although a few pets were still unaccounted for. One firefighter was sent to St. Anthony Memorial for a possible arm injury sustained in the initial attack on the fire, Santana said.

The fire was reported at 10:30 a.m., and about the time firefighters arrived flames were coming from the roof of the two-story building at 310 Woods Edge.

Throughout the morning, dozens of residents stood around and watched the firefighters spray water on the building and surrounding structures to prevent the fire from spreading. Siding was beginning to melt on the adjacent apartment buildings from the intense heat.

The fire appeared to have started in an upstairs apartment, Santana said. The fire burned through the roof of building. The fire was knocked down by about 11 a.m. Firefighters from Michigan City, Coolspring Township and Springfield Township responded.

The number of people evacuated wasn’t immediately available, but those in the burned building and the one to the north were unable to return. Twelve of the sixteen units in those two buildings were occupied.

In the aftermath, one woman who lived with her children in an upstairs apartment in Building 310 was being consoled by family members as she told fire officials what she saw while trying to rescue her cat from the burning building. Her identity wasn’t available.

Sabrina Warner and her boyfriend had just returned to their apartment next door at 312 Woods Edge Drive when she said she heard the hallway fire doors slam shut and the smoke alarms start to go off.

“We just thought something wasn’t right, so we ran out the back door and saw the flames coming out the roof,” Warner said.

Sitting in the shade of a tree with her walker, Karen McFadden said a man banged on her door to alert her to evacuate. She was worried about her cats since electricity was turned off to 310 and 312, so even the residents in the building next door needed to find a place to stay Thursday night. Warner and McFadden said they were unsure where they were going to stay, although they have family and friends in the area.

The Red Cross La Porte County Chapter will be opening a shelter at St. John’s United Church of Christ, 101 St. John Road, said disaster response and preparedness volunteer Steve Whitehead. There will be food, shelter and help with paperwork for longer-term assistance for affected residents there.

“We had heard from management that there are some vacant units here these displaced families can move into shortly, so that will help them at least with housing,” he said. “But they have lost everything they have.”

Volunteers with the Red Cross chapter’s emergency response vehicle provided firefighters water, Gatorade and McDonald’s hamburgers. Coolspring Township volunteer firefighters were expected to remain on scene for a few more hours to make sure everything was OK. The apartment complex is just outside Michigan City city limits in unincorporated Coolspring Township.

The blaze was called in by residents just before 10:30 a.m.. The Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department immediately called for mutual aid from Michigan City and Springfield Township because of the size of the blaze, which could be seen from afar by the billowing plume of smoke rising from the building.

Because the apartment complex is outside the city limits, the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what caused the fire with the assistance of Michigan City Fire Inspector Kyle Kazmierczak.

[Ang]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...37579622255.txt

Official: Electrical problem led to fire


By Matt Field
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, June 12, 2010 4:12 AM CDT

MICHIGAN CITY — Electricity caused the fire that ravaged a building at the Woodland Crossing apartment complex Thursday, a Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department official said Friday.

“As it stands right now, the fire marshal came to the conclusion that it was an electrical fire,” said Scott Silcox, an assistant fire chief for the Coolspring department.

He could not say how electricity started the blaze, whether an appliance or the electrical wiring were to blame. Previously, a Michigan City Fire Department official said the fire seemed to have started in a top-floor apartment.

Silcox said the investigation could go no further.

The fire destroyed the four apartments on the second floor of the building at 310 Woods Edge Drive. The four apartments on the first floor were heavily damaged by heat, smoke and water, Silcox said. Another adjacent building was not seriously damaged. Silcox said the building at 312 Woods Edge had minor smoke damage.

A temporary shelter was opened at St. John’s United Church of Christ on Thursday night, but Bobbi Petru, American Red Cross executive director, said no families spent the night.

Toya Wesley, 30, who lived on the top floor of the burned building, said she spent the night at her mom’s house.

Wesley said the apartment she lived in with her 4-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter was destroyed. She has been allowed to survey the damage and said the fire destroyed her apartment.

“Ain’t nothing but ashes,” she said.

Now, she’s been allowed to move into another apartment at the complex.

“I’m in there now,” she said. “I can spend the night, but I don’t have nothing, no bed, nothing.”

Wesley, who is unemployed, said the loss was hard on her young son. She’d taken him to see the damage.

“My son, he cried, he said ‘Where’s my men?,’” said Wesley, referring to her son’s toys.

About 18 people lost everything in the blaze, Petru said. She said some families the Red Cross has interacted with had young children, including one family with a 7-day-old baby.

For Wesley, who seemed upbeat Friday afternoon, rebuilding her life means replacing a household full of pictures, clothes and other items she’s now lost.

“What can I do, start all back over, start from scratch again,” she said.

Petru hopes the community reaches out to help those affected by the fire.

“If there’s anyone who has anything they want to donate, it sure would be wonderful,” Petru said. She planned to spend time Friday connecting with victims of the fire to find out what their needs are.

The fire was reported at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. By the time firefighters arrived, flames were coming from the roof of the two-story building. Residents were evacuated quickly and no one was injured, said Jeff Santana, public information officer for the Michigan City Fire Department, one of the agencies that responded to the blaze.

[Ang]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...05373140610.txt

Family copes with aftermath of apartment-complex fire

By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 4:13 AM CDT

MICHIGAN CITY — Families affected by last week’s fire at Woodland Crossing apartment complex are still trying to get back on their feet.

“It’s hard to believe that in 10 minutes, I lost everything I had,” said Michelle Skelton. “We’re still looking for our cat ... thank God I didn’t lose either of my kids.”

Skelton lived in an upstairs apartment at 310 Woods Edge Drive with her 8-year-old daughter, Felicia, and 13-year-old son, Jordan Wallace. The only thing she’s been able to recover is a box of Felicia’s baby items, she said.

“It took my baby girl’s children’s Bible, the portfolio of pictures she took dressed up as a princess at Disney World,” she said.

The fire was the second traumatic occurrence for the family in two days. Skelton took her children home early from their last day of school on Thursday so they could get ready to go to Chicago to visit her 18-year-old son, who was shot twice in the neck the night before.

“He was hurt very badly, he nearly died,” Skelton said, holding back tears. “He’s still in the hospital, and I haven’t even been able to go see him yet because we’ve been waiting to hear back about getting a new apartment.”

Skelton arrived back at the apartment building just in time to see the fire on their back deck, and she knew if nothing else, she needed to save their cat, an 8-year-old Siamese male named Simba. She didn’t know Jordan followed her inside, though.

“I was frantic, looking for the cat and then seeing he was there. Jordan refused to leave without him,” Skelton said. “A maintenance guy had to drag him out of the place before the smoke got too thick.”

Skelton is convinced Simba is still alive somewhere in the area. No one has found a cat inside the building yet, she said, and someone told her they spotted the cat during the weekend. Simba has blue eyes and is neutered and declawed. She said a friend is offering a $50 reward to anyone who returns him.

“If someone could please find him, it would mean the world to my daughter and son,” Skelton said.

La Porte County Sheriff’s Department Det. Michael Raymer, who has been investigating the cause of the fire alongside the state Fire Marshal’s office, said they cannot rule out the possibility of an electrical malfunction with the structural wiring that services the outside porch.

“To say exactly what wire or socket caused the fire, we cannot do that,” Raymer wrote in an e-mail. “Only an electrical engineer can make that determination, and that is left up to the insurance company to pursue if they wish.”

Skelton said she was thankful for all the help she has received so far from the American Red Cross, as the family has had hotel rooms every night. They also are trying to help her get new furniture. She said she has also received a lot of support from Jeff Santana, Michigan City Fire Department public information officer.

“He’s been an angel to my family and spent hours with us,” Skelton said. “My boyfriend told him that he wants to buy him dinner.”


The Red Cross is accepting donations for victims, preferably in the form of gift cards to major stores that victims could use to buy food and clothing. Donations of gently used furniture may also be accepted. Call 874-4247 for information.

[Ang]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2010/0...d8801442885.txt

Fault for apartment fire leads to some debate

By Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 4:13 AM CDT

MICHIGAN CITY — Woodland Crossing residents said they complained of electrical problems before a fire there earlier this month, but state inspections last year found nothing wrong.

A La Porte County Sheriff’s Department detective investigating the fire’s cause found no record of complaints to management about electrical issues.

Shalaywa Murphy lived in a downstairs apartment at 310 Woods Edge Drive before the June 10 fire. She and other residents said they told apartment maintenance workers before about sparking outlets. That morning, Murphy turned on her dining room light and saw an electrical outlet in her living room spark.

“I turned off the light and turned it back on to see if it would happen again, and it did. So I just shut off the light and left it alone,” she said. “I was getting ready to go back over to the office to turn in a form and was going to mention it then, but then some man started banging on my door and told me to get out, there was a fire.”

Sheriff’s Department Detective Michael Raymer said the blaze that tore through the top floor and roof of the building, and melted the siding on surrounding buildings, may have resulted from an electrical malfunction with the structural wiring that services the outside porch.

But while they can determine a cause, Raymer said, it’s not up to investigators to determine “fault” in a fire or who may have been responsible. All they needed to determine was that criminal activity was not involved.

“To say exactly what wire or socket caused the fire, we cannot do that,” Raymer said. “Only an electrical engineer can make that determination, and that is left up to the insurance company to pursue if they wish.”

The last complaint about electrical problems he said he could find on record was three years old, he said. Apartment manager Robyn DiCesare also said no complaints were recently received.

However, Murphy also said she didn’t hear the smoke alarms in the hallways go off before she was alerted to the fire by the man banging on her door. That could be because the alarms are run by electricity, Raymer said, which may have shorted and was turned off by NIPSCO shortly after the fire started.

“I doubted there was anything wrong at first until I got into the hallway and saw the fire doors closed,” Murphy said. “I was just thinking if my neighbor was there, she has no legs, it could have been bad if she didn’t know as soon as possible.”

The apartments were built in 1995, Raymer said, and building codes have changed regarding fire and smoke alarms. Now, apartment buildings are required to have sprinkler systems built in as well, he said.

“They may have to put one in that building, depending on how much reconstruction they have to do,” he said.

Emily Duncan, an Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority spokeswoman, said the apartment complex passed its last inspection in August 2009. The IHCDA is responsible for maintaining inspection records on the low-income housing for which it provides funding, she said.