BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (WXYZ) — A fire destroyed a condo in Birmingham and killed a family pet on Monday morning. It happened just before 10 a.m. on Putney Street. That's near Adams and Big Beaver Road.
Fire Marshal Jeff Scaife tells 7 News Detroit it appears to have been electrical in nature.
George Elson, who lives across the street from the condo, called 911.
"At one point in time, the black cloud was probably 30, 40 feet and the flames were probably 10 or 15 feet," he said.
Prior to making the emergency call, Elson recalled stepping outside onto his porch to check the temperature like he does every morning.
The smell and site of heavy smoke caught his attention.
"More than a BBQ," he described
Elson explained, "And I said to my wife, I said, 'Come out and take a look at this. It looks a little fishy. There's a lot of smoke down there.'"
The smell of wood burning signaled an emergency.
"So I dialed 911," he said.
Over the scanner, a firefighter could be heard saying, "Interior crew be advised, we do not know if there's an occupant or not. They're unaccounted for at this time."
Elson said his wife and a few other people banged on the doors and windows of all six adjoining condos to alert residents to get out.
He said, "The fire department was here probably within two minutes of me calling."
Scaife said, "Homeowners were not home. There was one animal that perished in the fire."
Sadly, the family lost its cat. Scaife said it was likely overtaken by the heavy heat and smoke inhalation. At this point, he's determined the fire started on the first floor and appears to be caused by an electric malfunction. However, what exactly may have sparked it is what he's still looking into.
"Hard to tell. It is a mass loss of damage. Heavy fire load. So it's just going to take time sifting through the debris seeing what is what," Scaife said.
While the unit is a total loss, firefighters could be seen removing what salvageable belongings they could.
Scaife explained, "In this case, they got a wedding coming up. So, there was things for their wedding and everything else that we tried to get out for 'em. Passports. Things like that. So, we were able to try to get quite a few things out."
Other units were saved and most residents were allowed back in. But Scaife said the unit closest to the damaged unit will first be tested to make sure there aren't dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
