Early Morning Fire Guts Apartment, Displaces Residents

An early morning fire at the Indian Hills Apartments gutted the unit where the fire began and has displaced residents from at least 10 units in the building. Units from the South Shore, Union Grove and Somers fire departments responded. Caledonia sent Medical unit 12, Quint 10 and Battalion 11 to the scene.

Mount Pleasant Police Sergeant Joe Macareno said the single occupant of 4824 Indian Hills Drive, Unit 14, was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and charges may be filed against him.

"It wasn't arson, but we are not ready to release information about the exact cause," he said. "We are considering charges."

Macareno said the first alarms sounded at about 5:30 this morning, March 12. An officer was on scene within two minutes, assessed the situation, and began pounding on doors to evacuate residents.

South Shore Fire Chief William Bouma confirmed that a box alarm escalated to a second alarm to call for assistance from other departments. When personnel arrived, smoke was billowing out of the sliding patio doors and fire was visible. Fire fighters were able to spray the outside of the building to cool it enough for a Caledonia ladder tower.

"By cooling the outside of the building, the ladder tower enable fire fighters to spray water directly into the apartment and attack the fire," Bouma said.

Coupled with the quick response, he said sprinklers in the halls prevented the fire from spreading any further.

"The potential was for this building to go down," Bouma added.

Three addresses occupy the building where the fire occurred; 4820, 4824, 4828 and units are numbered 1-20. By 8:30 a.m. residents in the 4820 building were being allowed back home, but units 9-17 and Unit 19 were considered uninhabitable because of smoke and water damage.

Rebecca Ruchhoeft and Daniel Puebla live in the 4820 building and said when they heard the alarms sound they weren't all that concerned. According to Ruchhoeft, there have been several false alarms over the past year caused by resident pranks. Still, they gathered their five-year-old daughter and exited the building.

"We saw the smoke billowing out of the upstairs apartment next door," she said. "It was definitely not a false alarm."

Puebla said he overhead the resident of Unit 14 say he had been cooking something when he fell asleep.

"This could have been much worse," Puebla said. "He put people's lives at risk."

But, Ruchhoeft added, they appreciate the responsiveness of the various fire departments.

"Everyone who responded has been very informative and willing to answer our questions," she said. "This could have been worse, but the fire was put out quickly and we really appreciate all the fire fighters who were here."

According to Property Manager Dave Fox, residents who are displaced because of the fire have either gone to hotels or to stay with family and friends.