WESTLAND, Mich. – A massive apartment fire at Willow Creek Apartments in Westland took hours to contain and claimed the life of a 68-year-old woman.
The victim, Verlene Johnson, was blind and used a wheelchair. Against all odds, neighbors were hoping someone would get to her in time, but it appears the fire started in her first floor apartment and spread quickly.
Residents at the apartments said management ignored repeated requests to install ramps at the complex.
Neighbors only had a few moments to escape the growing fire.
James Mason, 58, was saved by a good Samaritan after he became trapped on the first floor.
"I could smell smoke," Mason said. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, it's a fire.' I opened the door and I couldn't even see it was so black."
Mason said as he watched neighbors running from the flames, he started to panic.
"I would never had made it out unless somebody helped me out," he said.
That somebody turned out to be his next-door neighbor's sister-in-law.
"I am so grateful," Mason said. "She is my hero."
But Mason's hero was unable to save her loved one: Johnson.
"She's beating herself up for not being able to save her sister-in-law, but she did go back in twice and was unable to do so," Mason said.
Johnson's death has left many outraged.
"It was 100 percent preventable," Mason said. "I've been telling management for years to please make it handicap accessible. She didn't deserve this."
"I had to get my fiancé," resident Sarah Buell said. "He was in bed. I had to get my cats."
Once others realized how fast the fire was spreading, they started yelling for people to get out.
"I was the one screaming for the neighbors to know exactly what was going on," resident Solange Njofa said. "There was no smoke detector going on."
"I heard my downstairs neighbor yelling 'fire,'" said Jerome Robinson, who jumped from the second floor to escape the fire. "I tried to get out from the front door. I couldn't, and so I had to come out the living room window."
Officials said 24 units were engulfed once the smoke and fire got into the attic space.
"One of the challenges is the roof that wraps around the building, the shingles on the front," Westland Fire Chief Mike Stradtner said. "When we get fire into that void, it races around the building and creates a very large challenge because it goes right up into the attic space."
Stradtner said they are working with the Red Cross and management to help people find housing. The chief also said because there didn't appear to be firewalls in the attack, the fire spread quickly and was challenging to contain.
Local 4 News reached out to Willow Creak management about residents' concerns but they have refused to comment.
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