Stonebridge Apartment fire not believed suspicious

Burnworth said the investigation into a cause could take a few days to years.

“Investigators are asking anyone with any photos or video of the fire that were maybe taken in the early stages of the fire to contact us,” Burnworth said.

This newspaper contacted property management for their plans moving forward for the tenants and building affected, but a spokesman declined comment.

Beavercreek Twp. Deputy Fire Chief John Mercs said he wouldn’t be surprised if damage estimates reached the hundred thousands, but official damage reports were not immediately available.

Mercs said his department was able to determine a possible starting point of the fire that started around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’re pretty confident that the origin of the fire, not the cause, but the origin of where it started was on the second floor apartment balcony,” Mercs said.

A person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, but firefighters were not sure if the person was a resident or bystander, Mercs said. No additional injuries to people or animals were reported.

Lesley Thomas, who lived in the apartments damaged in the fire, had tears running down her face as she sat on a blanket holding her cat and talking about her experience.

“I went into the back room and I smelled smoke really strong,” Thomas said. “I said John, there’s a fire, we’ve got to get out.”

The Red Cross dispatched its disaster action team and sheltering team to the scene Tuesday, according to Maria Carroll, regional disaster support recovery specialist for the Dayton Area Red Cross.

Red Cross officials were assisting at least 15 families and were providing living arrangements until repairs or alternative housing could be arranged on Wednesday afternoon, Carroll said. Most families stayed with friends or family, but some were offered hotel rooms, according to Carroll.

The same apartment complex had 24 units destroyed or damaged by fire in February 2007, when firefighters said two fires in an electrical room led to the damage. The cause in the 2007 fires was listed by the fire department as “undetermined”.