DETROIT – They barely made it out with their lives after a fire ripped through a Detroit apartment complex sending 11 people to the hospital, including a mother of two who fell from her four-story window on the city’s west side.
Firefighters had to kick down doors and smash out windows to get people to safety.
The fire occurred Friday (April 7) at a building on LaSalle Blvd near Linwood Street and the Davison Freeway.
Antinique Harrison was rushed into emergency surgery after she fell while hanging out of her four-story window as the fire closed in fast.
“She panicked,” said Harrison’s sister. “She climbed out the window and was trying to hold on. She could hear the fire department coming, but by her having nails, she wasn’t able to hold on, so she fell to the ground.”
Harrison’s 3-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son were not home when the massive fire broke out.
Harrison’s sister took them to her home this past Wednesday (April 5) after a man was found shot to death in the apartment.
“Somebody killed someone in the building the day before, so as a precautionary reason, I took the kids with me,” the sister said.
The fire and the murder are under investigation, but Detroit Fire had to make rescue after rescue at the apartment.
Detroit firefighters were on their radios asking for more ladders to reach more people.
“I need additional 35-foot ladders to the back of the building,” said a firefighter.
“We were pulling people out of the third story, put ladders up, we rescued people, we transported 11 civilians to the hospital,” said Detroit Fire Chief James Harris. “Seven went to Henry Ford (Hospital).
First, a homicide occurred this past Wednesday, then the massive fire Friday that came so close to taking multiple lives.
“They found a body in there, and now we all have to suffer,” said a woman.
This past Wednesday, the body found in the building was of a man in his 20s who was shot multiple times. Police have no information on the identity of the man.