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The apartment fire at the Northpointe Apartments, located at 3333 N. Michael Way which sent five people to the hospital remains under investigation. Five people were transported to the hospital due to the incident and the most seriously injured victim remains in the burn unit at University Medical Center.
Fire dispatchers received numerous calls at 12:06 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, that an apartment building at the entrance of the Northpointe Apartments (near Rancho Drive) was on fire. Reports came in that a woman and her two small children were trapped inside the burning apartment.
Four people were in the apartment at the time of the fire. Two small children (age three and five-years-old) and their mother were asleep in bed. The woman woke to screams from her husband that the apartment was on fire and to get out. She could not get to the front door of the apartment because the flames from the kitchen blocked their exit. The woman lowered the two small children from a second floor balcony to neighbors who were outside on the ground, then she jumped herself. The three were taken to UMC for minor smoke inhalation.
A neighbor kicked in the front door and found the kitchen on fire. He used a fire extinguisher to knock down the flames, but they started back up. He went and got another fire extinguisher and again used it on the fire. He noticed a male adult lying across a couch in the living room not moving. He pulled the man outside to the front lawn just as firefighters arrived on scene. Once again the fire flared up and was burning intensely. The neighbor was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and the male occupant was taken to UMC with severe burns from the waist up, and critical burns from the shoulders up. He remains in the burn unit in critical condidtion, while all the other victims have been released from the hospital.
The incident remains under investigation. It appears to be accidental, starting in the kitchen, on or near the stove. Fire investigators would like to talk to the victim about what he saw or was doing before making an official determination, but currently his condition does not allow him to be interviewed.
The fire was confined to the one apartment and caused $55,000 damage.
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