Michigan State Police Fire Investigators, Sault Ste. Marie Fire Investigators and Sault Ste. Marie Police Detectives are on the scene today looking into the fire that severely injured one person on Wednesday evening.
The call came in around 6 p.m. Wednesday evening when a fire was reported in a building that housed five apartments. Soon after, the apartment building next door caught fire. That building was being renovated and had no tenants.
Fire Chief Edwin Miller said around 10 residents were home in the five-unit building. One resident was transported to MyMichigan Medical Sault with severe burns.
Due to the nature of the fire and the cold weather conditions, Sault City Fire called in Soo Township, Bay Mills Township and Dafter Township Volunteer Fire Departments for equipment and manpower. Kinross EMS and MyMichigan EMS assisted with calls unrelated to the fire. A Chippewa Co. Victim Services Unit was also on-site.
"The structure of the building is old. It was modified a couple of times so there were false ceilings, false roofs, so we had to deal with that. And to have a building next to it which was about three feet away. Then the cold. It was hard to work with the temperatures so we required a lot of mutual aid to help out with," Miller said.
Miller said up to 32 firefighters were fighting the blaze at any given time.
"When there is a fire that injures a person or there is a fatality, I like to have the Michigan State Police here to help with the investigation so we do everything right. We will be here for a while," Miller said.
SooLeader will continue to have updates as official information is released.
