Fire at Brookhaven Manor Apartments in Ann Arbor causes evacuations, one injury
A kitchen fire caused minor injuries to one resident and evacuations during the busy lunch hour at Brookhaven Manor Apartments on the Ann Arbor's south side today, fire officials said.
Officials say the fire was contained to one room in the retirement home, although smoke spread to all three floors of the building at 401 West Oakbrook Drive.
Battalion Chief Kevin Cook said the building's fire alarm triggered at about 12:16 p.m., and dispatchers received word that a room was on fire as they were responding.
"The hallway was really smoked up when they got there," Cook said.
The fire was contained to a unit on the ground floor on the eastern side of the building. Because of the smoke, numerous residents were evacuated for about an hour, and other residents were told to stay in their rooms, Cook said.
Crews were on the scene for about 90 minutes ventilating the building. Cook said all residents were allowed back inside, but the damaged apartment can't be occupied until it is cleaned.
The woman whose room was damaged was taken to the hospital for evaluation, Cook said.
The Washtenaw County Public Health Department responded to inspect the food in the building.
Cook said all 20 of the city's firefighters on duty were needed at the scene.
A damage estimate has not been calculated.
Comments
Blue Eyes
Mon, Feb 22, 2010 : 10:44 a.m.
To all of the anti-fire posters - Ever think that maybe they sent all 20 because it's a RETIREMENT home, ie elderly, not all olympic athletes. With even a small fire, it could have been much worse! Way to go AAFD!...and no, I'm not a firefighter.
susand
Sun, Feb 21, 2010 : 12:39 a.m.
my father-in-law lives at Brookhaven,he said the fire was started because a resident heated towels in a microwave! We appreciate the firefighters getting there! No cuts to the fire department! Trim some corners on the new city hall.
The Grinch
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 6:59 p.m.
Belboz, I am neither a firefighter nor do I have a relative who is one. I live on A2's southwest side. This is at least the third aprtment fire in the Eisenhower--Main Street--A2-Saline Road Triangle in the last year. So this is HARDLY a worst case scenario. The person who posted that this was in a high rise is mistaken--the high rise is next door. This IS a huge building with interior hallways that meant, even were the fire to be contained to one apartment, it would not be obvious on arrival that this was the case, with hallways certainkly full of smole, and certainly efforts needed to be made to see to the safety of all residents. This is what I expect my FD to do, and I understand that further cuts to the FD (and to the PD) poses a grave risk to public safety. But I guess, since their unionized, screw 'em. They must be lazy and don't deserve descent pay for the dangerous (and apparently unappreciated) jobs they do.
Matt Damon
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 3:59 p.m.
Nice job AAFD, you continue to perform with less. How long can this last?
belboz
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 3:25 p.m.
There must not be a fire at the moment, because I see all of the fire-fighters are clogging the message board. Nobody has ever said Fire Fighters are not needed. But, we can't staff up for a worst case scenario for all departments. I'll get my hose out to help when I can....
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 9:48 a.m.
@BornNRaised...I'm not familiar with Brookhaven but pictures I find appear to indicate a 3 story structure. If thats the case its hardly a "high rise" but thats a separate argument. Given that there are dozens, indeed hundreds of such 3 story multifamily residences in Ann Arbor. So if 20 responders is reasonable (and I don't say its not) how many fire fighters would you suggest should be "on the clock" at any given time?
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 7:41 a.m.
we shouldn't confuse 20 fire fighters "needed" with 20 fire fighters "sent" to the scene. Why were 20 fire fighters needed for a fire in a single room that ultimately didn't require the full evacuation of the building is my question. If all 20 fire fighters sent due to the nature of the call, which perhaps is understandable, at what point were some of the 20 sent away because 20 weren't needed for a single room fire?
Cendra Lynn
Sat, Feb 20, 2010 : 1:44 a.m.
So if there's a fire at Brookhaven and one at the senior living home on Jackson Rd., do we divide the firefighters up 10 and 10? Or do we just let one burn? Or do we hope the firefighters from surrounding areas aren't busy with a fire in their town and can get here in, what, 20 minutes? Roger Fraser says we care more about parks than public safety. The Mayor says we need a conference center. The fire chief retired because he knew we weren't safe. And this story makes only an allusion to this problem. Way to go, A2dotCom. Keep up the tradition of the AA News and ignore the big problems facing this town. Forget investigative reporting and hope it's not your office or home that catches fire.