One Euclid resident was taken to a hospital with burns and smoke inhalation after firefighters rescued the person from a fourth-floor apartment fire Friday night at the Indian Hills Colony apartments, WOIO reported, citing a release from the Euclid Fire Department.
Crews responded at about 9:30 p.m. Friday to the apartment complex, according to the Euclid Fire Department release reported by WOIO and by Cleveland.com. Several other residents were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, the department said in its release.
The fire was reported on the building’s fourth floor, and the rescued resident was transported for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation, WOIO reported. The reports did not include the resident’s name or condition, and NewsForce247 is not publishing either until the fire department or a hospital confirms them.
Apartment fires on upper floors pose a particular danger because smoke rises and can fill hallways and stairwells before residents in other units realize anything is wrong — which is why several neighbors who were not in the fire apartment still needed treatment for smoke inhalation at the scene, according to the department’s account reported by WOIO.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: confirmed by the Euclid Fire Department’s release, as reported by WOIO and Cleveland.com, are the time of the call, the fourth-floor location, the rescue, one resident transported with burns and smoke inhalation, and several others treated at the scene. Still unconfirmed are the fire’s cause, the amount of damage, whether any residents were displaced for the night, and the transported resident’s condition.
The Euclid Fire Department has not yet announced what caused Friday night’s fire or how much damage the building sustained. Neither WOIO nor Cleveland.com reported any other injuries beyond the resident transported and the neighbors treated at the scene, and no deaths have been reported in connection with the fire.
Euclid sits on Lake Erie’s shore in eastern Cuyahoga County, and Indian Hills Colony is one of the larger apartment communities in the city — the kind of multi-story complex where a single-unit fire can quickly become a building-wide emergency once smoke reaches shared corridors.
What happens next: the fire department’s investigation will determine the fire’s origin and cause. Residents displaced by the fire or by smoke damage will be working with the complex and local assistance agencies — and NewsForce247 will update this story when the department releases its findings.
Photo: stu_spivack, CC BY-SA