BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - Friday the 13th brought bad luck at the century-old house at 1333 Scott Street.
But it brought heroes, too.
Fire spread through the five apartments inside the big house Friday morning, leaving some residents calling for help from second-story windows. Fortunately, firefighters found them in time and helped them out. No one was seriously injured.
Vivian Metz was having her second cup of coffee in her first-floor apartment when she heard crackling above. She called the fire department, but firefighters were already on the way. They arrived just a couple of minutes after 7 a.m.
Mrs. Metz and the 4-year-old girl she was babysitting escaped and waited in an ambulance while firefighters put ladders to the higher windows and helped a mother and her son to safety.
"They were very good," Mrs. Metz said of the firefighters.
The fire did an estimated $45,000 to $50,000 damage, said Lt. Tom Brinkman. The Red Cross gave residents lodging vouchers. Mrs. Metz and her husband, Tom, were staying at a Newport motel while they decided whether they could return to the apartment they have lived in for 11 years.
The house, a former doctor's office and home, is owned by William Walton. Part of it dates back as far as the 1830s, the rest of it to about 1896.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation Friday. Firefighters wanted to talk again with an 8-year-old boy who lived there, Lt. Brinkman said.
