Man and infant die after Monday apartment fire. Three children remain hospitalized
Update: The Indianapolis Fire Department on Jan. 26, 2023 announced the 3-year-old girl rescued from the fire has died after weeks in a hospital. The 12-year-old remains in Riley Hospital for Children and the 14-year-old has been released. The department said the fire's cause remains under investigation.
Previous Update: Raymond Diggs, 31, died on Jan. 11, 2023, from the injuries he suffered in the fire at Briergate Apartments, according to the Marion County Coroner's Office. Leilani Rembert, 1, died on Jan. 12, 2022, from her injuries suffered in the fire, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department.
Original article: Five people, including three children and a teenager, were resuscitated Monday night after fire crews rescued them from an apartment fire on Indianapolis’ east side.
Firefighters were called to the Briergate Apartments at 2847 Elwin Drive — near the intersection of North Post Road and East 30th Street — about 10:20 p.m. and found light smoke in the hallway of an apartment building, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department.
After entering an apartment, firefighters found heavy smoke and a fire that was smoldering but had almost burned itself out.
Firefighters quickly knocked out the remaining flames, within a minute of entry, according to a fire department news release.
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Crews made a quick initial search and located one man and one infant, both unconscious, near the couch in the apartment. Firefighters then found two more children and a teenager in a back bedroom of the apartment.
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All five people were in cardiac arrest when they were rescued. The fire department ordered additional medic trucks to transport the victims to hospitals. Firefighters simultaneously began CPR efforts on all five people.
Pulses were restored on all five patients who remain in critical, but stable condition, the fire department stated. The adult rescued is 31, while the teenager is 14 and the children are 12, 3 and 1, according to the fire department.
Neighbors recall ‘terrifying’ fire
Renee Williams said it was scary watching crews carry out the five people from the smoking building. She has lived in the apartment complex for seven years.
“They just kept bringing more people out,” Williams said. “It was just sad and terrifying."
Williams was asleep when the fire began, while one of her sons played video games inside their home. Two of Williams’ other children came home from work and saw the building was on fire.
They knocked on the doors of the apartment units to evacuate the building and called for help, Williams said.
"Thank goodness my daughter got off work when she did,” Williams said. “I did hear banging probably from the fire, but I just thought it was people walking hard."
After they evacuated, Williams and her family saw the apartment that caught fire was dark black inside through a front window. Even though her apartment was next door to the fire, Williams’ unit was not damaged.
"It's a blessing that the man and children are all alive still,” Williams said. “Hopefully they will be alright. I really hope so.”
A man from Indianapolis Animal Care services carried a chihuahua out of the building Tuesday morning. The man told a neighbor it was hiding under a bed inside the apartment that caught fire, while the small, tan dog trembled in his arms.
"We just kept saying where is that dog,” Williams said. “I don't know how that dog survived.”
Samuel Beliard, who lived above the unit that caught fire, heard a voice in the hallway warning him of the blaze before he fled. Beliard’s unit was damaged by smoke, so he was moved to an apartment in a different building at the complex.
“It was very scary to see them pull the five people out,” Beliard said, while carrying groceries Tuesday morning. “I am just shocked by it.”
The fire began on the couch in a front room of the apartment, but the exact cause remains underdetermined, the fire department said.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis fire leaves man and infant dead, 3 others hospitalized
