Fire damages business and apartments in South Bend, displaces 8 people before Christmas
"Some guy was banging on the hallway shouting, 'Fire! Fire!,'" Davis recalled.
Davis, along with seven other residents living in the
"I didn't even hesitate, I grabbed the first two things I saw, which were my shoes and my coat ... and I just got the heck out of there," Davis said.
Fire crews were called shortly before midnight to
According to a news release from the
The cause of the fire is under investigation and the building is being considered a total loss, according to the release.
Firefighters were recalled to the
Davis was back at his apartment Monday morning in the hopes of retrieving his phone and wallet from the burned building.
"I don't care about anything else, but, man, it would be a blessing if some stuff was still salvageable," Davis said.
Along with the eight residents, Davis said, three cats also made it out of the building safely -- a fact Davis attributes to the actions of a brave passerby.
"It was actually a passerby who came and (saw) the blaze," Davis said. "I don't know why they stopped, but they stopped. He said he kicked in this door and was just banging to alert everybody, which was probably a lifesaving thing."
The owner of the apartments,
"I'm probably going to tear it down," Koehler said. "I think it's a total loss."
Koehler is the former owner of the
According to Koehler, the apartments had working smoke detectors and extinguishers. Davis said the shouts of the passerby woke him up and that he did not remember hearing a fire alarm.
"I've been there short of 27 years, where do I go to work tomorrow?" Harrison said. "I haven't had time to think, it happened too quick."
"We got lucky," Bonk said.
Davis, who had lived in the building for five months, said he's unsure about where he'll go next, but he's staying optimistic.
"I'll be OK," Davis said. "
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@marek_mazurek
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