VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Two dozen families are displaced after an apartment fire in Van Buren Township.
The Van Buren Township Fire Department said the fire started around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Waverly on the Lake on Denton Road. People living in the complex said they saw flames coming out of the roof.
After a few hours, fire crews were able to put out the fire but returned to the scene as hot spots began to flare up. No one was hurt and the building is a total loss.
“It was a pretty fast-moving fire because it was along the roof line, got through the fire wall, continued on so it burnt the roof off the third floor,” said Van Buren Township Fire Chief David McInally.
He said the department has responded to at least four fires at Waverly on the Lake in recent years, including March 2023.
“The major concern is that this is the second fire this year,” said Shannon Fryover, who lived in one of the 24 units damaged by the fire.
She said some of her neighbors are displaced for the second time this year.
“If you drive by that building, you’ll still see that that apartment these many months later is still boarded up,” Fryover said. “I don’t know if there’s actually people still living in that apartment building. I know some of those people came to live in my building and now they, again, for the second time this year, don’t have a place to live.”
She’s not sure how old the buildings are but said her apartment and others’ have had electrical issues in the past, but building maintenance fixed it.
“I’ve lived there for a year and a half and when I first moved in, I had 10 outlets in my apartment that didn’t work in various rooms,” said Fryover.
While the Fire Department is investigating a cause Fryover is staying at a hotel and looking for a new place to live.
“Me personally, no, I will not stay at that place, not at that apartment building, it’s just too many fires,” Fryover said.