Apartment Building Declared Total Loss after Friday Fire
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Mike Brubaker, Warsaw Fire Department chief, said this morning that the apartment building involved in Friday night’s fire is a total loss. The investigation into the fire at 423 E. Arthur St., Warsaw, is completed, he said. The Squad 70 fire investigation team was able to take a look at the scene at about 1 p.m. Saturday. “The fire is undetermined status,” Brubaker said, but did start in the basement. The apartment is owned by Chad and Annie Zartman, who bought it in 2010. At the scene of the fire Friday, Chad estimated the building was constructed around 1888. Brubaker said older homes like this one are “balloon frame construction,” meaning they were built without fire stops between the floors. Construction today has fire stops between floors. Without the fire stops in the Arthur Street building, Brubaker said once the fire started, it got into the walls and into the floor between the basement where it started and the first floor. That gave the fire room to grow, so it became difficult for firefighters to extinguish. “The guys did a phenomenal job, all the departments,” Brubaker said. According to apartment E tenant Travis Holland at the scene Friday night, the fire started in the small bedroom of his apartment. His child notified him, and he was able to alert his neighbors in the building. His sister-in-law called 911. The call for the fire came in at 9:01 p.m. Friday, he said. Brubaker said all the residents made it out of the fire and no firefighters reported any injuries. He estimated there were 50 to 60 firefighters on the scene due to the extensive amount of work that needed to be done. Assisting WFD and Squad 70 at the scene were departments from Winona Lake, Leesburg, Claypool and Pierceton. The Mutli-Township EMS was on hand. “The (American) Red Cross did a phenomenal job of helping the residents displaced,” Brubaker stated.
