Firefighters in Clay Township say an early morning fire in Roseland was an accident. They say they got a call around 3:30 in the morning to the Dublin Village Townhomes in Roseland. When they got there, one of the townhomes was fully engulfed with fire on all three levels and firefighters were worried it wasn't going to stop there.
"These were conditions that the building was already structurally unsafe," says Clay Township Fire Chief John Vance. "The balcony had collapsed by the time that we arrived, so we really couldn't go in and fight the fire in the main fire occupancy. We had to knock it down from outside, but the crews did a great job of quickly stopping the fire from spreading."
The fire didn't spread to the adjoining townhomes but all of the units do have smoke damage. Firefighters think the fire started in the garage.
A 21-year-old woman was sent to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. She was released from the hospital Monday afternoon. Everyone else in the neighboring apartments got out safely. All of it is thanks, in part, to one woman: Brittany Molnar. Brittany works next door at the Jameson Inn.
"All of a sudden there was a loud boom and I didn't know what it was, so I'm thinking, I [am going to] get a call from one of the rooms. I thought I was going to get a complaint and he told me there was a fire. I hung up and sprinted and on the way to sprinting over I called 911. I used to be a volunteer firefighter for Niles Township. Just natural instinct I guess. I knew someone needed to be helped."
So Brittany ran around the front of the building and went door to door trying to wake people up.
"There was a teenage girl and her mom there. [I] got them out. And then about the same time I got them out, I heard a woman scream fire and it sounded like it came from the back of the building."
She ran back around and saw a 21-year-old woman on the ground.
"She was just laying there, unconscious. She had a pulse. She was not breathing though."
Brittany knew what to do thanks to CPR classes.
"And each time it's like, 'eh, when am I ever really going to apply this.' They would tell us the odds and you wouldn't really ever pay attention or think you need it."
Now she needed it. The woman laying on the ground needed it.
"I opened her airway a little bit and a couple chest compressions and she actually coughed a little bit, gasped for a little bit of breath. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't take the class." Britt says, "So how do you feel today?" Brittany says, "Happy that she's ok."
Happy and looking forward to one thing.
"Sleep. I just want to sleep."
Fire investigators are expected to release their report on the fire Tuesday.
