WESTLAKE, Ohio — A woman who lived in a west side condo complex said the fire that destroyed her building should have been put out sooner.
It was just after 11 A.M. Sunday when Bria Lucas saw something was wrong.
“I heard a loud knock at our neighbors', pounding, ‘Get out, get out!’” she said.
She listened and immediately left the Courtyard Condominiums on Detroit Road in Westlake. At the time she believed the fire on the 3rd floor would soon be contained.
“I was able to get out with my dog, and we were standing out there while the fire was still small,” she said.
She said the Westlake Fire Department was there within 20 minutes, but that it took too long for backup to arrive.
“I would think that there would be more than one fire department here within 15, 20, 30 minutes, but over an hour? That’s not okay, that’s not acceptable,” she said.
The weather was hot.
One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion, while measures were taken to keep the others safe.
“We’re trying to rehab the crews as we can, we’re bringing them in and out of giving them water, giving them rest,” Westlake’s Fire Chief Jim Hughes said.
Hughes added they first fought the fire from inside but were forced outside as at least three homes were lost.
Lucas claims she has nothing now.
“I’m just extremely upset,” she said. “I have no shoes I mean everything is gone.”
She understands accidents happen but feels this one could have been better handled.
“This could have been not as big,” she said. “It could have been put out right away.”
A 3News crew asked the chief about the response times he said he would get back on that later.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.