Residents and neighbors of a Brunswick apartment building that was decimated by an inferno Monday night that killed a 5-year-old girl said the scene was one of chaos.
“I was about to go to bed and I thought, ‘What the hell is this flickering?’ ” said Dennis Naugle, who lives in a nearby building at Hickory Hill Apartments with his three children. “Police being here isn’t unusual, but when I went to look I saw a firetruck and flames.”
He said the flames rippled high above the three-story building and wind was blowing them toward his building.
“I started yelling, ‘Get out, get out!’ and we just left as quick as we could,” Naugle said. “Nothing like this ever happens here.”
The fire gutted the 12-apartment building and spread partway into an adjoining 12-unit structure. It did not harm other parts of the complex, including Naugle’s building. The girl who died, originally thought to be 4 years old, was 5, according to a tentative identification, a Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner spokesman said. Six others were injured, many pets died and more than 50 people were displaced from their homes.
It took hours for firefighters to extinguish the blaze, which was reported at about 10:30 p.m. Fire investigators were on the scene Tuesday attempting to identify the cause and origin of the flames.
Fire Chief Jim Baird said Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing, but fire experts determined the fire started outside a ground-floor apartment. He said arson was ruled out as a cause of the fire, and no evidence was found to support speculation by neighbors that a meth lab explosion started the blaze.
No damage estimate was available Tuesday, he said, because investigators have not determined whether the adjoining building is salvageable. He said the dead girl’s name has not been released by authorities, but he said the girl’s mother was among those who were hospitalized.
Among those who survived the fire was James Holcomb, who was in the adjoining building with his girlfriend when the fire started.
“We thought it was just a fight or something at first,” Holcomb said. “People were just yelling and it was crazy.”
He said he went to the window and saw the fire, and they fled the building.
Bonnie Randa, who lives in a building across a parking lot from the one that burned, said the flames were “incredibly high” off the building and the flames spread very fast,
“When I first came out, the fire was just in one part,” she said. “But then there was a pop, and it spread across the top of the building — 20 feet in 10 seconds, like a fuse.”
Randa, in tears, said the fire was traumatic even for onlookers.
“All we can do is pray for the families affected,” she said.
The gutted structure was declared a total loss on Tuesday, and many residents were clearing out their homes from the adjoining building that morning and afternoon.
Other apartments in the multi-building complex were affected by the fire, though not as severely. One resident of a building behind the one that caught fire said his ground-level apartment flooded because of water sprayed from fire hoses.
“It was up to here,” said Jose Rivera, gesturing to just above the ankle. “I lost almost everything.”
Carpet in his apartment was ripped from the floor and much of his furniture was stacked nearby or outdoors. His cat was among his only surviving possessions.
Rivera said he knows many of the people who lived in the burned building.
“It’s terrible what happened,” he said. “They’re good people.”
Meanwhile, members of the community banded together to support survivors of the blaze. At the nearby St. Ambrose Catholic Parish, Brunswick residents and churchgoers donated massive amounts of supplies to provide to those who were displaced.
The Rev. Rob Ramser said the community’s response was moving.
“It’s been overwhelmingly generous of the community,” he said. “Within 10 minutes of the fire reports, people were bringing blankets and water to donate.”
On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of volunteers helped sort donations, from water and canned food to diapers and clothes, to phone chargers and blankets.
Among the volunteers was Beth Knittle, who attends the church.
“I came at 9 this morning to donate and I just stayed to help,” she said around 12:30 p.m. “I’ve seen people at all different levels of emotion today — some calm, some shaken, some hysterical. It’s just all the stages of grief.”
The church intends to help find temporary homes for all the people displaced by the fire.
The Rev. Bob Stec said the donation collection is the easy part.
“What’s going to be hard is the weeks to come,” he said, “when we’re getting these people resettled.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.