Monday, July 10, 2000
Landlord gets tenants to safety in Avondale fire
By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The owner of an Avondale apartment building probably saved other residents' lives when fire broke out there early Sunday.
The blaze — which left four injured — began about 8:30 a.m. in a downstairs apartment in the Northern Avenue building, near the zoo. It quickly spread to the attic.
Upstairs residents Gene and Belinda Lee and their three daughters — 12, 10 and 7 — were sound asleep when Michael Tevis, their landlord and downstairs neighbor, came to warn them.
“He broke down the door, bless his heart,” Mr. Lee said. “We all had to leave out the back entrance. The smoke was so strong in the front hall that there was no way we could have made it out.”
Mr. Tevis then went back for Alicia Brigham, a wheelchair user who was trapped in her downstairs apartment.
Residents of the fourth apartment escaped down a ladder that happened to be leaning against their balcony, Mr. Lee said.
Cincinnati District Fire Chief Anson Turley said the fire was probably sparked by a cigarette Ms. Brigham was smoking as she changed her oxygen tank.
Ms. Brigham tried to put out the fire herself before calling for help, officials said.
It took 67 firefighters 45 minutes to knock down the blaze, the chief said, but seven hours to tear up walls and floors to make sure it stayed out.
Ms. Brigham remained in University Hospital on Sunday with second-degree burns on her arm.
The three others injured were not hospitalized: Mr. Tevis, whose arm was cut; Mrs. Lee, who had trouble breathing; and firefighter Larry Choate Jr., who broke his thumb.
The Red Cross is providing housing for some of the displaced residents.
Damage to the building is estimated at $100,000.
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