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Fire rescue delayed
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City of Warren Fire investigators and investigators for the state fire marshal remove items as they investigate a early morning blaze that injured a Warren Policeman and three residents. State Fire Marshal investigators have ruled arson as the cause of this morning’s fire at a group home on Bonnie Brae Avenue.
By Ed Runyan
Four people — including a police officer — were critically injured in Tuesday’s blaze at a group home.
WARREN — A firefighter official says response time to a fire that injured four people would have been shorter if not for layoffs in the fire department.
A woman delivering newspapers noticed the fire on the front porch of the house at 368 Bonnie Brae Ave. N.E. shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday and flagged down officer Doug Hipple, who kicked in the front door and tried to rescue the three women living inside.
But he became disoriented inside the house and returned to the second floor, where he and the women were rescued by firefighters about 15 minutes later.
Hipple and the women were flown to Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Center.
Holly Pupino, a hospital spokeswoman, said Tuesday afternoon that all four were in critical condition. Tuesday evening a spokeswoman said she had no additional information on Hipple or Sheree Egry, 53. However, she said that Donna Cassidy, 52, and Melissa Watson, 44, were in serious condition. A fourth woman, a caretaker for the three mentally retarded residents, escaped from the home on her own.
Acting Police Chief Tim Bowers said Hipple is in an induced coma but was last reported breathing on his own.
“He’s a very brave, dedicated police officer, and we just pray to God he’s going to survive these injuries,” Bowers said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference in the mayor’s office.
Officials with the Warren police and fire departments said Hipple arrived at the house at around 3:22 a.m. Several other police officers arrived at the house within several minutes after Hipple.
Hipple advised a police dispatcher by portable radio a couple minutes after he entered the building to tell firefighters to “step it up. We can’t get out.”
Bowers said he doesn’t know yet how long it took from that point for firefighters to rescue him. Because of different times used by various police and fire dispatching equipment, it appears it took between seven and 12 minutes.
Fire Chief Ken Nussle said there was some initial confusion as to the location of the fire because the newspaper carrier couldn’t pinpoint its location, but it took about five minutes for firefighters to arrive.
The 911 log shows that firefighters removed Hipple from the top floor of the two-story house at around 3:40 a.m. — more than 15 minutes after he entered the building.
Bowers said it appears that when Hipple arrived, he started banging on the front door of the house, then the side door and then the front door again, trying to alert the occupants of the house to the fire.
At the time, it appeared the fire was not very large, Bowers said.
After kicking in the front door, Hipple met the caretaker inside, and the caretaker showed Hipple to the second floor, where the women were sleeping.
But the home was formerly a duplex, so the stairwells are confusing, and it appears Hipple had trouble leading the women back down the stairs the way he came in, Bowers said.
The caretaker made it back out because she knew the house, but Hipple and the three other women eventually went back upstairs and headed toward the back of the house, Bowers said.
Warren Fire Detective Marc Titus was among the 11 firefighters who responded to the fire. He located Hipple and removed him.
Titus, who also is president of the firefighters’ union, said he is frustrated firefighters were unable to get to the blaze any sooner. He said closing of the nearby fire station on Atlantic Street Northeast because of manpower issues slowed response time by three to four minutes, he said.
Nussle, however, said he thought response time was slowed by about one minute.
“If that station was open, this would not have happened. He would not have had to go in there,” Titus said.
All 11 firefighters working were stationed at the South Street main firehouse. The Atlantic Street firehouse is just a few blocks away from the location of the fire.
Councilman Bob Dean said the layoff of 11 firefighters on Jan. 1 is to blame for the length of time it took to get help.
“You can’t just say things just happen. This is what happens — officers get hurt and 11-year-olds get killed,” Dean said.
The councilman was referring to Hipple and 11-year-old Lloyd McCoy Jr. of Wick Street Southeast killed during an April 13 drive-by shooting at his sister’s house. Twenty police officers also were laid off Jan. 1.
The State Fire Marshal’s office reported the fire was deliberately set and that a reward of $5,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of whoever set the blaze.
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