WALKER, Mich. — Emergency crews from three different departments responded on Sunday evening to a large fire at The Orchards on Four Mile.
Multiple apartments were damaged by the flames that took firefighters about 45 minutes to put out.
"There's only four that sustained major damage because of the fire getting up in the attic space," Walker Fire Chief David Pelton said.
"It's just the fact that we have to isolate power and gas to those six apartments from the rest of the building, that they're not going to be able to move back in right away," Pelton said.
Drone footage from the City of Walker shows how the flames damaged multiple apartments.
Another fire in 2017 engulfed units at the same complex.
In January at nearby Greenridge Apartments, another fire severely damaged a building, displacing 60 people.
Pelton said safety infrastructure in both buildings prevented the fires from being even worse.
"It's pretty nice that both Greenridge Apartments and The Orchards are pretty well built," Pelton said. "They've taken great care of their facilities to maintain them and that really helps slow the progression of fire. Especially last night at The Orchards, there's a firewall that separated [Units] 912 to 914. And then that really stopped the fire from progressing down through the attic space."
While the cause remains under investigation, the chief said no potential connection could be drawn among the different fires based on the complexes' infrastructure and wanted to remind people to always put safety first.
"It's human behavior that causes these things, causes fires typically," Pelton said. "There's no connection between the three. It's just so this is still under investigation."
"Usually with apartment fires, something happened - whether it's a mechanical, electrical or human related behavior [that] created the fire - and then we respond," Pelton said. "The biggest thing that helped here was working smoke detectors, got the residents out of the building and that saves a lot of lives."
The local Red Cross is working to temporarily rehouse those whose apartments were damaged and need a place to stay.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.