Mutual Aid

10 community fire departments battle apartment blaze

Firefighters and equipment from 10 neighboring communities responded to a serious fire at the Waverly Apartment complex in Van Buren Township last week.

Van Buren Township firefighters were dispatched to the 48000 block of Denton Road at about 8:30 p.m. July 5 in response to a report of a possible structure fire. Responding firefighters found heavy fire throughout the attic of the structure which had traveled through the roof of the building, according to official reports.

Van Buren fire officials immediately requested mutual aid from Ypsilanti Township and the cities of Belleville and Ypsilanti in response to the severity of the blaze. Firefighters first verified that everyone was out of the building and then instituted exterior defensive operations, officials said. 

In an effort to control the blaze, fire officials requested further mutual aid from Canton Township and the City of Romulus.  Fire crews established ladders to accommodate aerial operations and flow water through the roof of the building, according to reports.  As firefighters continued to battle the fire, mutual aid was also requested from Superior, Sumpter and Augusta townships along with the City of Wayne and additional fire units from Romulus.

The firefighters remained on the scene in attempts to quell the fire for several hours, officials said, finally bringing the fire under control. Officers from the Van Buren Police Department along with staff from HART Huron Valley, Huron Valley Ambulance and Belleville Fire Auxiliary were at the scene in a support role. 

After ensuring the blaze had been extinguished, firefighters left the scene but crews were called back to the building in the early morning hours the next day as the fire had rekindled inside the building. Van Buren, Belleville and Sumpter Township responded to the rekindle, officials said.

No injuries were reported in the incident and the cause of the fire remained under investigation at press time.