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HFD battles fires at two apartments
Firefighters and EMS units respond to a three-story apartment building fire at 1112 9th Street on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009, in Huntington.
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HUNTINGTON — Two people were transported to Cabell Huntington Hospital after a fire broke out at a three-story apartment building on the corner of 9th Street and 11th Avenue on Saturday evening.
Huntington Fire Chief Greg Fuller said a male patient was unconscious or “minimally conscious” when firefighters rescued him from the second floor of the brick building. Another woman also was taken by Cabell County EMS.
Fuller said firefighters were responding to a different structure fire on 25th Street that was quickly contained when they got the call about the second fire around 7:45 p.m. He said three Huntington stations responded to the call.
The second floor of the 9th Street apartment building was heavy with fire when the first crews arrived, Fuller said. He said several people escaped the building on their own, but one person was trapped inside. Firefighters used a ladder to reach the male victim on the second floor.
Some animals also were rescued from the building, he said.
Fuller said the fire was mostly contained to the second floor, with intense fire damage to two rooms and smoke damage to other areas.
“We were able to knock the fire down quickly,” Fuller said, and added that the department’s thoughts and prayers were with the man taken to the hospital.
He said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Cabell County EMS and the Huntington Police Department also were on the scene.
At the other fire, in an alley along the 2500 block of 1st Avenue, firefighters were containing a blaze at a garage apartment.
Though the fire was knocked out quickly once firefighters arrived, the building was completely blackened and gutted.
Veronica Gilkerson, a member of the family that owns the property, said the apartment was unoccupied and was mainly used for storage.
In the garage was a restored 1979 Camaro that had belonged to Gilkerson’s deceased father.
Like much of the building around it, the car was blackened, mangled and unrecognizable save for the tire rims and headlights.
Gilkerson said she was puzzled as to how the fire started, because there were no utilities running to the building.
Gilkerson said she was informed of the situation on 9th Street by EMS workers who responded to her family’s property. She said she hoped those injured in the other fire would be all right.
“As bad as this is, at least it’s just a car,” she said.
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