Akron firefighters late Tuesday rescued a person trapped for an hour in an apartment fire at Highland Square.
The fire, which was reported at about 11:30 p.m., displaced all 13 residents of the South Highland Avenue apartment building.
One resident was trapped in his apartment for an hour and was resuscitated on scene after he was rescued. He was transported and admitted to Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center, where he was conscious and recovering Wednesday.
Two other people suffered minor injuries and were treated on the scene. A firefighter also was injured.
Akron Fire Lt. Sierjie Lash said Wednesday morning that the fire was not considered suspicious.
“That could change, though,” she said. “We’re still investigating.”
At the scene Wednesday afternoon, residents came and went with their salvaged belongings. The building stood mostly intact with black soot stains near windows and doors and a pile of debris outside. Construction workers surveyed the remains.
Among the residents was Tony Kulcsar, who lived on the first floor of the two-story brick building.
“I woke up and heard the people upstairs. I thought they were fighting,” he said.
After a short time, he said he detected an odor and suspected something was on fire. He grabbed his phone, wallet, keys and shoes and went to the door.
“Smoke didn’t come in my apartment until I opened my door,” he said. “Then it poured in.”
He said he couldn’t get outside from the smoke-filled hallway, so he climbed out his window.
“I’m just glad I wasn’t in the back [where the fire is thought to have started] or upstairs,” Kulcsar said.
Another resident, Russ D’Agata, said he arrived home from work to find the building ablaze.
“A lot of my stuff is ruined,” he said.
D’Agata stood outside with a friend, Amanda Markovich, who lived in the building briefly in 2010 before moving to another place nearby.
“I was thinking about what happened and it struck me this morning: What if I still lived here? What would I do?” she said.
Markovich said she felt it was her responsibility to try to make sure the residents of the building were all right.
“It’s the neighborly thing to do,” she said, shortly before offering spare pairs of pants and sweatshirts to one of the building’s residents.
The building, built in 1928 and owned by Casterton Inc., was valued at $292,630, according to Summit County Fiscal Office records.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.