My Residence 1977-1979

That pipe coming down from the third floor is a fire escape.

 

This building was destroyed by fire in 2006.

 

From the Clinton Herald

 

Building destroyed by fire

By Scott T. Holland Dec 6, 2006 Updated Jul 30, 2014

 

CLINTON — Firefighters today are continuing their work at the scene of a four-alarm fire that destroyed a Clinton apartment building Tuesday night.

 

Although the bulding was a total loss, making 60 people temporarily homeless, emergency responders are happy the situation wasn’t as tragic as it could have been.

 

At a 5 a.m. press conference today, Clinton Fire Chief Mark Regenwether gave details about the fire that destroyed the largest of the three Deer Ridge Apartment buildings Tuesday and recounted the number of ways in which the department considers itself — and the residents — lucky.

 

The first call to 911 was placed at 7:56 p.m. Tuesday, Regenwether said. The fire moved so quickly through the three-story building that firefighters are unsure if everyone would have made it out alive had the fire broken out in the middle of the night.

 

As it was, several factors affected the way the city handled the fire.

 

Regenwether explained that a private drive accessing the building at 262 N. Bluff Blvd. still was blanketed by ice following last Friday’s winter storm. That made accessing the building complicated for fire trucks. However, the department had been called to the same complex about three hours before the fire to help free two children from an elevator.

 

At that time, Regenwether said, the first responding vehicle made it up the hill and the second got about halfway before sliding down. The crews knew that situation going into the fire, but still managed to get just one vehicle up the hill.

 

“It was pretty treacherous getting up that hill,” said CFD Lt. Fred Roling, the incident commander and acting battalion chief.

 

Twenty minutes after the first 911 call, city street trucks were called in to salt the private drive as well as parts of Bluff Boulevard that would be affected by water runoff.

 

Clinton Police Cpl. William Greenwalt said his agency was able to respond in large numbers more quickly because Tuesday was the annual senior citizen’s Christmas party and Symphony of Lights tour. About 15 members of the police department had volunteered to help with that event and therefore were able to get to the apartments faster than usual to work on resident accountability checks.

 

Regenwether praised the police department for its efforts as well as other city departments. Also involved with the Christmas party were Municipal Transit Administration buses and drivers who were called in to help shuttle apartment residents to First Congregational Church United Church of Christ. On any other night, Greenwalt and Regenwether explained, the city buses would have been in the barn in South Clinton and the drivers all home for the night.

 

Cooperation came from the private sector as well, Regenwether explained, with a local oil company bringing fuel to the trucks on scene and two local pizza restaurants taking it upon themselves to prepare and deliver hot food to firefighters and victims.

 

The Gateway Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army reportedly were on scene assisting residents with shelter and clothing. Of the 60 displaced residents, all but 16 were able to make arrangements to stay with friends and families. Residents of the other two Deer Ridge buildings will be able to return to their buildings today or tomorrow, Regenwether explained, as those appear to have escaped damage.

 

As for the fire itself, Regenwether estimated about $500,000 in damage to the structure, citing a recent appraisal of the complex at around $800,000. He had no guess as to the value of lost personal property, but did say the building is a total loss.

 

“Walls are standing but most of the floors and roofs have collapsed into the basement,” he explained. Based on where the fire first vented through the building, he is assuming the fire started in the northeast corner of the building in either a basement or first-floor apartment. Damage is so extensive that there is no guess as to a cause.

 

Firefighters will work throughout today and possibly into Thursday to extinguish hot spots. Clinton Fire Marshal Mike Brown will join with a Clinton Police Department investigator, the state fire marshal’s office and a private insurance official to investigate the scene.

 

“Sprinklers would have made a huge difference,” Regenwether said, noting that it takes 11 firefighters a very long time to search 27 apartment units spread out over four floors in a building that’s fully engulfed in flames. “It overwhelms us in short order.”

 

Regenwether said the building that burned was formerly a nursing home and converted into apartments in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Had the city had a building code enacted at that time, he said, sprinklers likely would have been mandated. As it was, the fire alarm system did function properly, which appears to have been a key element in getting everyone out safely.

 

Other difficulties in battling the blaze are owed to simple geography. Regenwether said the structure sits on a hill with three of the four sides of the building situated on drop-offs of about 20 feet. Furthermore, it is so deep a structure that the typical 200-foot hose connects the CFD uses had to be extended.

 

For the first 20 minutes, firefighters battled the blaze in an offensive mode, searching for anyone trapped inside. At the same time, police officers were outside interviewing people about who might be inside. Anyone unsure of another resident’s whereabouts was questioned separately.

 

After 20 minutes, however, Regenwether said he and Roling decided it was time to switch to a defensive mode. They believed everyone to be out based on police interviews and surmised that anyone inside the building for that long wouldn’t be able to survive.

 

“The risk far outweighed any gain we were able to get,” Regenwether said, noting he will not put firefighters in jeopardy to save buildings — only people.

 

The only injury reported from any responder was a muscle strain to a firefighter who was helping to manually move a car to make room for fire vehicles. He and Roling estimated the temperatures inside the building to be more than 1,000 degrees near the ceilings and around 300 to 400 near ground level. With exterior temperatures in the low 20s, incident commanders had to be conscious of rotating firefighters in and out of the blaze to keep everyone safe.

 

The fire department will “muddle through today” Regenwether said. The shift scheduled to clock in at 7 a.m. was dismissed from the scene at 12:30 a.m., and firefighters from Camanche and Fulton, Ill., had been called in to provide mutual aid, primarily by staffing Clinton stations to respond to other emergency calls.

 

The chief admitted there will be “some tired firefighters out there” today, but with the building still needing constant attention and the remainder of the community to watch over, there is no alternative.

 

Some firefighters were on duty for 24 hours or more, he said, and many veterans with decades of experience were among the first inside the structure. It is hard for those people to accept a shift to defensive firefighting, Regenwether said, and everyone is affected by such a massive inferno.

 

Still, with no apparent fatalities or even serious injuries, the mood today was one of gratitude for the cooperation among city departments. There was sadness over the loss of property, but a calm serenity based on the preservation of human life.

 

Still, there will be no certainty until the fire is completely out and investigations proceed.

 

“Our hopes and prayers,” Regenwether said, “are that everyone did make it out alive.”

 

 

Timeline

 

Clinton Fire Chief Mark Regenwether provided the following timeline of Tuesday’s fire at 262 N. Bluff Blvd.:

 

• 7:56 p.m.: 911 operator receives call from the occupant of apartment 305 stating the building is full of smoke, especially the first floor.

 

• 7:59: Clinton Police Department officer arrives and radios that he sees fire coming out of the east side of the building.

 

• 8:03: Clinton Fire Department’s companies 1, 4 and 5 and ambulance 1 arrive on the scene, observe heavy smoke and fire on the first floor extending to the second floor. CFD Lt. Fred Roling, incident commander, calls for a second alarm and safety officer and initiates an offensive attack. Other first-in units have difficulty accessing the building due to icy road conditions on a private drive estimated at 750 to 1,000 feet in length. This makes it difficult to secure a continuous water supply. Occupants are exiting the building and some are assisted by fire personnel. The fire is spreading rapidly.

 

• 8:04: The Gateway Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is contacted; officials request two city buses.

 

• 8:06: City salt trucks are requested to help get vehicles uphill to the scene.

 

• 8:20: City buses arrive; water company is notified to boost pressure to the area.

 

• 8:21: Roling calls for a third alarm and mutual aid from the Fulton (Ill.) Fire Department. Firefighters continue their offensive attack and primary search.

 

• 8:26: Roling calls for a fourth alarm — all available Clinton firefighters — and mutual aid from the Camanche Volunteer Fire Department. Regenwether arrives on scene and, upon conferring with Roling, opts to shift to a defensive mode due to smoke and fire conditions, limited water supply and equipment placement.

 

In total, there were 35 CFD members on scene and 15 from the CPD. Mutual-aid response included 10 Fulton firefighters and six from Camanche. The Municipal Transit Administration provided two buses and drivers, and the city street department provided two salt trucks and drivers.

 

Other agencies involved, either through formal request or independent initiative, included the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Alliant Energy, Iowa American Water Co., Kelly Oil, Pizza Hut, Mama Cimino’s, First Congregational Church United Church of Christ members and the Clinton School District.

Done