5 injured, including 2 seriously, in Warren fire tonight

WARREN

Five people were injured — two of them flown to Akron Children’s Hospital — following a Tuesday evening fire at an apartment complex.

The two, a man and a woman, suffered burns and smoke inhalation. They initially were taken to Trumbull Memorial before being flown to Akron. A third person also was taken to Trumbull and two others were taken to St. Joseph Health Center.

Those three people suffered from smoke inhalation.

Assistant Chief Dan Suttles said the three-story, six-plex apartment building on Stewart Circle was evacuated and firefighters as well as the residents had to contend with single-digit temperatures.

“When you’re moving people from a building in this extreme cold, they’re not coming with coats, obviously,” Suttles said. “Some of them didn’t even have shoes on.”

Firefighters were called shortly after 7 p.m. and while it took only about five minutes to get the fire under control, heavy black smoke quickly filled the building’s hallways.

The fire is believed to have started in one of the first-floor units, where the man and woman who were most severely injured lived.

The cause is under investigation and no damage estimate was available Tuesday night.

The building’s residents had to find some place else to stay for the night.