Pennfield man perishes trying to escape apartment fire

Five people including a baby dropped three stories were rescued as a fire engulfed an apartment  building at the Pines of Pennfield Wednesday morning.

One man, Walter Bell, 66, died later at Bronson Battle Creek after he fell from his third floor apartment while trying to escape the fire, Calhoun County County Undersheriff Tim Hurtt said.

But several people escaped the fire without injury including a mother and her one-year-old son.

"He was looking at me and I could tell he was saying, 'no, no don't drop me,'" said Amber Day, 23. "I have to. They got you. We will be all right."

Day was just waking when the fire started in the 23-apartment, three-story building. All but one was occupied, according to complex manager, Cheryl Litton.

Litton said some residents will be relocated to other apartments in the complex and the Red Cross was assisting others to find temporary residences.

Pennfield Fire Chief Tim Smith said he believes the fire started in a second-floor apartment which was unoccupied because the residents were on vacation. He said the cause may have been electrical but he will be assisted in his investigation by the Michigan State Fire Marshall.

Smith said damage will likely be between $200,000 and $300,000. The north end of the building was damaged by fire, which was stopped just past the midline of the building. The apartments on the south end that were not damaged by fire but did have water and smoke damage, he said.

Day was in the portion of the building damaged by the fire.

"We were literally just waking up and I saw black smoke seeping in the crack of my door," Day recalled. "I heard someone yell, 'fire, fire, get out. Come down the stairs.'"

Day said she didn't think she would make it out with son, Jaelen West, 1, if she used the stairs.

"I am not going down those stairs," she said. "We are going to have to jump."

When she looked out her window on the west side of the building, she saw that about six people had dragged an old mattress from a dumpster to a spot under her third-floor apartment.

"They were like, throw him, we will catch him."

One of those people was Ron Sites, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex.

He said he was near the building when he heard the smoke alarm but said the smoke was too thick for him to enter the building.

"People were hanging on balconies," he said.

Sites said he and others told Day two or three times to drop her son and they would catch him.

"I was just waiting for her to drop him," he said.

As the baby fell, Sites was standing on the mattress and said he only had one thought, "don't' drop him."

After she let the baby fall, Day then jumped and landed on the mattress. Neither was hurt and stayed at the fire scene to watch as the building burned.

Calhoun County Sheriff Department deputies said as many as five people were rescued from the building.

Bell was attempting to climb over a balcony from his third-floor apartment on the west side when he fell. He was taken by Lifecare Ambulance to Bronson Battle Creek with critical injuries and died Wednesday afternoon. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, Hurtt said.

A pregnant woman and another man were rescued from the east side of the building.

Firefighters were called at 8:52 a.m. to the fire at 147 Hopkins St. Pennfield firefighters were assisted by firefighters from Bedford and Emmett townships and the City of Battle Creek. About 40 firefighters battled the blaze, according to Tim Smith, Pennfield Fire Chief. None of them were injured.

Black smoke towered above the building and flames broke through the roof. At least half of the building was heavily damaged by the fire and the rest had smoke and water damage.

Teronda Kyles, 27, was in her apartment on the north side of the building "and all I heard was sirens and then I heard banging and then I heard dogs barking.

She fled the building and watched with others as it burned. She saw a man who jumped still on the ground.

Kyles moved to Battle Creek in February from Benton Harbor.

"I am scared to live in my house," she said. "It is scary. Really scary."

Like so many others she fled the building without any belongings.

'I really need to get some clothes so I can go to work," she said.

Andrea Weed works for the Battle Creek Bombers baseball team and said when she heard about the fire she went to the apartment complex to rescue her dogs. She said one, Boo, got out but a second, Lola, was missing, however, the dog was found later by firefighters. Smith said several other pets also were rescued.

Ben Garcia was working on some siding and roof work at the complex when he realized the building was on fire and people were trying to escape before firefighters arrived. He was one of several people who took ladders to the building to help people escape.

"They didn't have a ladder, and I just wanted to help people out," he said.

Contact Trace Christenson at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquier.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson