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The Daily OrangeEuclid house fire sends three to hospital
By Megan Saucke
Posted: 5/7/08, 8:15 PM EST Section: News
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Four people on the first floor and three people on the second floor had been sleeping when the fire started and spread through the second floor and attic. Three students were treated and released for smoke inhalation early Wednesday morning.
A female escaped the second floor by jumping out the window, said Lt. Ken Heffernan, a fire investigator with the Syracuse Fire Department. She suffered bruises and was treated for smoke inhalation, but she didn't break any bones. A male was rescued by a fire ladder and also suffered smoke inhalation. The other female students got down through the stairs and suffered bruises and smoke inhalation.
Phil Barber, a resident of the house and a graduate student at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said he wasn't sure exactly when the fire started because they had been asleep since midnight.
He said they got out of the house just after 3 a.m. One of the downstairs residents had heard the cracking and the popping of the wood upstairs and woke people up.
They then heard the residents upstairs screaming, he said.
"We couldn't get up there because of the flames, so we had to leave the house," he said.
By the time they got outside, the fire department was already there, and the block was closed off. The fire department received the 911 call at 3:06 a.m., Heffernan said.
Barber said the residents didn't have time to grab any belongings, but the damage was mostly in the common areas so valuables like computers weren't destroyed.
"Thanks to whomever it was who called 911, because otherwise it could have been a lot worse," Barber said.
The house pets, two ferrets, two dogs and one cat, survived. One student's gecko died.
Mariama Sidique, a student who lives across the street from the house, heard commotion around 3 a.m. She said she could hear people yelling in the house and saw a group of people watching from the sidewalk. Her roommate immediately called 911. Passersby on the sidewalk had also called 911.
"The roof was on fire for a while," Sidique said. The fire trucks were still outside when she was awake at 5:30 a.m.
Shannon Romeling, an ESF student who was sleeping on the first floor, said the firefighters were hosing the house for at least an hour and a half. She said it took longer than usual to put out the flames because the house was on a steep hill. Barber said the housemates were outside until almost 6 a.m.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Heffernan said. Romeling and Barber said there were no candles or grills on the porch, and they don't have any idea how the fire started.
Paula Howell, who owns the house and rents it to students, said she is not yet sure of the damage costs, and the insurance inspector will be visiting the house in the next few days.
The structure is a "total loss" because of the extensive damage to the second floor and attic, Heffernan said.
Howell intends to continue renting to students no matter what the cause of the fire turns out to be.
"Accidents happen," Howell said. "We're just glad that everybody's safe."
mcsaucke@syr.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Pat Brennan
posted 5/12/08 @ 8:14 PM EST
I don't know the circumstances here but it seems to me based on my own observations that the lack of up to any reasonable code status of off campus housing in the Euclid area is a scandal waiting for a tragedy. (Continued…)
Todd
posted 5/20/08 @ 2:36 AM EST
Kevin hurteau 38 yrs old has been held in the county jail in syracuse ny on felony charges, of sexually abusing a 9 yr old boy, his bail has been set at 50 thousand dollars. (Continued…)
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