Fire Strikes Indiana Apartment Complex

ELKHART – A number of residents were evacuated after fire broke at the North Lake Apartments complex Sunday morning north of Elkhart near the intersection of county roads 4 and 9.

Quick action by Osolo Township Fire crews prevented it from becoming worse than it was. Almost the entire department — all shifts and equipment — turned out to fight the fire.

Upon arrival, the firefighters went through the halls in one section of the complex knocking on doors, asking some residents to leave the building. Debra Branch was one of them.

“Watching TV, and then I heard someone banging on the door,” she told WSBT. “So I got up and looked out the window and see the fire department was out front. There were other people already out.

As it turns out, Osolo Fire was able to send many firefighters from both shifts — and a lot of equipment — because the department was conducting training.

“We were at training at our fire station,” said Assistant Chief Jo Johnston. “Training for hazardous materials, so we had almost a full contingent of staff on station when we got this call, so there are blessings right there.”

When they first arrived on scene they found a small amount of smoke coming from one area of the building, so firefighters fanned out to see if they could track down the source.

“When we made entry into the hallway leading to the upstairs apartment, about three steps into the entryway and its solid black smoke,” said Johnston.

They went through it trying to find a fire while making sure no one was still inside. They located a fire inside one of the apartments. They doused it, but found the fire had made its way into the attic area. They attacked that by climbing up into the roof, and also used a tower truck to knock it down.