Residents try to salvage what's left after fatal blaze
Jump to full article: Detroit (MI) Free Press, 2010-01-02
Author: ZLATI MEYER and RASHAUN RUCKER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Intro: The deadly fire that ripped through a residential hotel in Midtown on New Year's Eve was caused by a drunken man who used a lit piece of paper to light a cigarette, Detroit Fire Department officials said Friday.
"He was trying to light his cigarette and chose the wrong way to light it," Fire Capt. Steve Varnas said. "It's ridiculous a place like that is burned. ... He should've been paying attention more."
Investigators said the resident of the Huntington Hotel, on the 100 block of West Alexandrine, had dropped the burning paper onto his sheets about 8:30 p.m. The bed caught fire, and then flames spread down the hall when he opened the door to yell for help.
"He's lucky to be alive," Varnas said. Two other residents died Thursday night, fire officials said.
Varnas said another person is in critical condition at a hospital. One firefighter suffered second-degree burns, and a second one was hospitalized with back pain.
Fire officials also are looking for an elderly wheelchair-bound woman who hasn't been accounted for . . .
Varnas said 49 people lived in the building
Jump to full article » |