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One tenant was taken to the hospital this morning and another treated at the scene of a 5:12 a.m. fire on Fort Wayne Street believed to have started when bedding got too close to a space heater.
"We had a couple of firefighters who did one hell of a job getting a stop on this rascal," said Larry Baker, assistant fire chief with the Warsaw Fire Department. "They got a dang good knockdown."
Baker said the first men off the truck at the scene, Duane Patterson and Tim Hood, were able to make a big difference for the other firefighters coming onto the scene.
The fire, at a house converted to five apartments, caused extensive damage to the structure at 939 E. Fort Wayne St. Firefighters had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, but were still on the scene during the 8 o'clock hour dousing hot spots and were working cleanup as 10 a.m. neared.
Fire officials believe the fire started in a front downstairs apartment, where an electric space heater either fell over or was placed too close to bedding, causing the material to ignite.
The 911 call alerting the fire department came from a neighbor's house, but fire officials did not know whether the neighbor spotted the fire or a tenant escaped the burning structure and went to the next residence to phone for help.
All of the tenants of the building were out of the house when firefighters arrived on the scene. Flames were shooting out the windows of a lower room in the house, Baker said.
One tenant, Eddie Gordon, 25, was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, where he was treated for a burn to his foot and released. Another tenant, Rodney Perry, no age available, was treated at the scene for minor smoke inhalation.
When the tenants fled the residence, a door was left open between the upper and lower floors and the fire traveled up the stairwell to the upper floor apartments. The structure had apartments on three floor - basement, a main level and upstairs.
Officials said that the apartments had smoke alarms, but not all were operable. The building is owned by Alan Kado.
