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Walker Fire Chief: Smoke alarms in units were working, but building alert system was not

Leigha Filips woke up to the sound of police sirens and someone screaming, "Fire!" What she didn't hear was the fire alarm going off.

WALKER, Mich. — Fire investigators in Walker are digging into the cause of a massive fire at an apartment complex over the weekend.

The fire happened at Westown at Wilson Apartments in Standale early Saturday morning.

No one was hurt, but a few people need a new place to stay.

Leigha Filips woke up to the sound of police sirens and someone screaming, "Fire!" What she didn't hear was the fire alarm going off.

"I just kind of laid in bed and faintly heard someone scream, 'Fire, fire!' Then my dog barked so I was up and I woke my fiancé up. I'm like, oh my God, there's a fire! I was very hysterical," she said.

It wasn't a bad dream she was having. Her apartment building was on fire, but she and her fiancé didn't know how bad it was. 

"There were no smoke alarms. No fire alarms. Nothing was going off," Filips said. 

Fillips and her fiancé were able to grab their phone, wallet and dog. They ran outside with just the clothes on their backs.

Fire Chief David Pelton says the smoke detectors were working in the units, but the building alert system was not.

"The hand pulls were pulled, but we're finding there was no audible alarms going off in the building itself," Pelton said. "We were performing search and rescue operations. The hallways were filled with smoke but each individual apartment was not." 

The chief's ruling out that the fire was suspicious and that it came from a unit, but he doesn't know if it came down from the attic space or in-between the walls between the stairwell and upper floor apartment or if it came the second or third floor. 

The automatic sprinkler system on the second floor hallway did trip and kept the fire outside. 

The chief says the last time the fire department did an alarm test check was when they did the final occupancy inspection when the buildings were built in 2019. However, the alarm company is responsible for doing an annual alarm check.

"To have escaped because another resident woke us up. There’s such so many emotions with that. Disappoint, anger, sadness. We all could’ve died," Filips said. 

Filips and her fiancé did have renter's insurance, however it's not enough to cover their losses. They've set up a GoFundMe page to help them recover lost items and expenses.

"Always check your smoke detectors and be sure they're working," Pelton said. "If you're living in an apartment building that does have hand pulls, call the management office and ask when the last inspection was. Be sure it was within a year and if it wasn't, then you can call your fire department to have us come back and check inspections are being done."

The Fire Marshall is working to get maintenance and inspection records from the alarm company.

Watch our drone video of the fire's aftermath below:

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