DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit fire crews responded to a two-alarm fire at a multi-unit apartment building in Southwest Detroit early Friday morning.
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Watch the report from Ryan in the video player below:
The apartment building is on the corner of Porter and Morrell Street near West Vernor Highway.
Officials were called to the scene around 12:30 a.m. They say the fire began in the two middle units and quickly spread throughout the building.
The Detroit Fire Department battalion chief on the scene told us he believes the building itself is salvageable. But the landlord and residents we talked to say that all four units inside the building are completely destroyed.
“I’m at a loss, I’m just sitting here like I don’t know where to start so I woke up this morning like where do I begin, what do I do?" said Michael Bennett, a resident of the building.
Bennett says the only thing he has left from his apartment and a book bag and the clothes on his backpack.
“I need clothes… all my food is gone and ruined just like furniture, everything’s gone," said Bennett. "I don’t have nothing."
Bennett's neighbor, Michael Berres, says he and his 17-year-old son also lost everything in the fire.
“He’s heartbroken right now, he lost everything, nothing in his room is salvageable," said Berres. “It’s horrible.”
The fire also spread to the home sitting right next to it.
We're told no one inside the building was hurt.
“I’m happy to be alive, I’m happy it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.. I could’ve been hurt or injured," said Bennett.
A spokesperson for the Detroit Fire Department says investigators determined that the overnight fire was arson.
Berres and Bennett both have online fundraisers to help them during this time.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Fire Investigation Division at 313-596-2940, or the tip line at 313-628-2900.
