Kalamazoo area housing plagued by fires

(Western Herald file photos) Left: A fire tears through the east unit at the Carriage Green Apartments complex on West Main Street on Feb. 3. Center: A massive fire rips through Dover Hills Apartments, lighting up the night sky on Oct. 26. Right: Kalamazoo firefighters survey the damage to a Hidden Hills Apartment building after the March 12 fire left at least 24 apartments damaged.

By David Alexander
Western Herald

Throughout 2008 and into 2009 Kalamazoo firefighters have had their hands full with a succession of fires that have affected the community.

Kalamazoo area firefighters have had to battle at least seven major fires since March 2008, according to news sources. Several complications arise when such destructive forces take shape in such a concentrated amount of time. The fires have raised many questions.

For now, the fires that raged at apartment buildings located in Nottingham Place, Dover Hills, Portage Street, Alco, Carriage Green, Big Bend, and, most recently, at Hidden Hills seem to have a variety of causes.

According to two Kalamazoo Gazette articles, both the Portage Street and Carriage Green fires have been deemed arson by the local police. Oshtemo Township Fire Chief Mark Barnes said the cause of the Nottingham Place fire, which his department stifled back in October of 2008, was undetermined.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety has determined the Dover Hills fire to be most likely caused by a discarded cigarette, according to WKZONEWS.com.  The Hidden Hills, Alco, and Big Bend apartment fires are still under investigation

Oshtemo Township Fire Chief Mark Barnes said that despite the concentrated amount of time the fires have occurred in, over a one-year period, there doesn’t seem to be an increase in their numbers. Barnes’ department assisted Kalamazoo Public Safety with the Carriage Green, Dover Hills and Hidden Hills Apartment fires.

“It looks quite chaotic at the scene, and it sounds chaotic, but there really is a method to handling these events,” Barnes said. “We have predetermined plans in place for getting additional resources, and how to do the long-term campaigned events.”

Barnes said that there is a minimum response standard to which all fire departments need to adhere. Combating fires in older buildings is easier to do because they typically are made from materials that tend to smolder, and hold their shape longer before collapsing, Barnes said.

Deputy Fire Chief Paul Karnmaat said the department’s maxim is “Plan for the worst, hope for the best.”

In addition to being difficult for those directly affected by this slew of fires, continued large-scale destruction strains local resources. Spokesperson for the American Red Cross for the Kalamazoo area, Vicky Eichstaedt, said that the local chapter of the Red Cross has spent more than twice its budget this fiscal quarter as a result of the fires.

“The fires our communities have experienced in the last 12 months are extremely unusual,” Eichstaedt said. “All of the multi-unit fires have dramatically increased the number of people who have lost their homes; as opposed to the number we traditionally see with primarily single-family fires.”

“When people experience the devastation of fire, flood, hurricane, or tornado the feelings of loss and grief are the same.  They must begin again, rebuilding and replacing home and possessions,” she said.

Eichstaedt said the Kalamazoo area Red Cross has provided aid for over 500 clients so far this fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30 of this year.

Both Eichstaedt and Karnematt urged apartment dwellers to purchase renter’s insurance. Even though firefighters have minimum response standards, their priorities are often putting out blazes and saving lives, not excavating possessions.

“It is relatively inexpensive and covers so much,” Eichstaedt said of renter’s insurance. “Would you have the financial resources to replace everything you own?  From a psychological point of view, those who have insurance get back on their feet and back to a sense of normalcy far quicker than those who do not.”

For more information on renter’s insurance, consult your apartment office or insurance company.

Information on the American Red Cross, including how to become a volunteer, can be found by visiting www.redcross.org or its office, which is located off W. Michigan Avenue at 5640 Venture Ct.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Mar 30 2009. Filed under Breaking, Campus, Local, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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