Recalling the horror: Acts of heroism stand out

Recalling the horror: Acts of heroism stand out
Residents, DFD credit building managers and quick response with saving lives, structure
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News


Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.
Media Credit: Kelly A. Southard / For The South End
Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.

Frank Jeney's quick reaction made the most of a horrific situation.

Detroit Fire Department Capt. Steve Varnas said Forest Arms management was alerted to a fire shortly before 3:45 a.m.

When Jeney, the manager, knocked on the door of apartment 412, the resident reportedly shouted that he was sleeping.

Jeney opened the door anyway.

"And when he opened the door, there was a blast of black smoke and heat," Varnas said. "It sounded like the guy was banging around in there. And the manager did the right thing-he closed the door."

Varnas said Jeney and the assistant manager raced through the apartments on the 4th floor, alerting residents to exit the building.

"These two guys are heroes," he said. "They started on the fourth floor, and then went down to the third floor, then the second, then the first. They got everybody out of there."

POLICE RESPONSE

Cmdr. John Serda of the Detroit Police Department's Central District said he arrived on the scene at 6 a.m.

"At that time, the whole top floor was fully engulfed in flames. It's a U-shaped building, and that side had also caught fire," he said.

FIRSTHAND HORROR

Resident Andrei Danilicic woke up shortly before 4 a.m. in his second floor apartment.

"I heard the sound of glass breaking, and I thought it was someone breaking into a car," he said. His apartment, which is located below unit 412, began to fill with smoke.

"Then, I realized there was a fire, and that sound was glass in the apartments above me breaking," he said.

Danilicic said all of his possessions are still in his apartment.

"I was only able to escape with the clothes on my back," he said.

Detroit police and fire crews said they will secure and monitor the building to protect tenants' possessions.

Resident Monique Bronz also said she woke up in her first-floor apartment around 4 a.m.

"The lights went out right then, and all I could grab were my clothes and cell phone," she said.

BUILDING WOES

Varnas said 105-year-old apartment building, which rents out 72 apartments, sustained significant damage.
"There is a total collapse of the roof on the front, back and center, and fire damage on the 4th floor," he said. The lower three floors sustained smoke and water damage. Varnas said further damage could occur if more sections of the roof collapse or if water inside the building freezes.

"It's not the worst I've ever seen," said Varnas, a 30-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Dept. "The building could be rehabbed, and the owner is insured."

He confirmed that smoke alarms inside the Forest Arms Apartments worked correctly and alerted residents to the fire.

"They didn't have a sprinkler system in a building this old, but they did have fire doors in the stairwells of every floor, to trap the fire," he said.

Water damage from the rescue operation will also challenge efforts to rebuild the apartment complex. Hali Stone is co-owner of the Amsterdam Espresso coffee shop on the first floor of the apartment building. The building also houses the People's Records shop.

Stone said she heard of the fire at 6 a.m. As she watched the rescue efforts this morning, water gushed through the bottom crack of the coffee shop's front door.

While her store is insured, Stone said she fears that she may permanently have to close the coffee shop.

"We don't know when we'll get back into the building, or how much damage there is. Beyond us, if the building is closed, we're entirely dependent on the tenants of this apartment building," she said.

The intersection of Forest Ave. at Second Ave. is still closed to non-emergency vehicles.