STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — Residents of 18 units at the Polo Club in Strongsville have been displaced after a fire broke out early Saturday morning.
According to the apartment complex manager, more than half of the building is still livable, but the fire did manage to burn up many of the third floor units, displacing a total of 28 residents. Other apartments sustained mostly smoke and water damage.
Strongsville Fire Department officials say that the blaze broke out around 12:20 a.m. Saturday and quickly spread amongst upper units of the complex. Additionally, bitter temperatures hindered the efforts to suppress the fire and crews from surrounding fire stations were called in for backup.
Officials from the American Red Cross were also at the scene of the Strongsville apartment complex and were handing out vouchers to those displaced by the fire.
No civilians or firefighters were injured, Strongsville Fire officials say.
“It brought tears to my eyes knowing that my dad worked so hard for what he got and it’s all gone now,” says Jack Poolos, resident at the Polo Club Apartments.
Poolos has lived with his father at the apartment complex in Strongsville for about a year and half. In that time he’s accumulated more and more possessions like clothes, basketball and snowboard gear. All of it, however, is gone now after he woke up in the middle of the night to the nightmarish scene.
“My window was engulfed in flames, the back porch is, everything,” Poolos says. “I was just speechless at that moment. I didn’t know what to say and didn’t know what to do.”
Then, reality kicked in and he knew they had to get out. He and his father rushed out, knocking on doors and helping others to safety.
“We had to push out a grandma, she was like 88 years old and couldn’t walk," he explains. "We had to help her get out and down the stairs. Everybody was in shock; they didn’t imagine this would happen at this place.”
At this time, what caused the blaze has not been determined and the incident remains under investigation.
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