Fire strikes Massillon home, tenants able to escape unharmed
MASSILLON – Diana Wade wants to find the man she believes saved her and her mother from being killed in a fire Wednesday evening.
She says a stranger, in his late 50s or early 60s, came running into her building at 117 Second St. NE, yelling "fire," and banging on the apartment doors.
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"I didn't see the flames or smell anything until I opened my door," Wade said. "And then the smoke was rolling out the other apartment. And it filled the hallway. Then the alarm started going off."
She grabbed a fire extinguisher from her kitchen. But the thick flames and smoke were too overwhelming.
Wade, 54, who was cooking dinner at the time, said she barely got herself and her 74-year-old mother, Ruth Wade, who has heart issues, out of the building before the fire significantly got worse and was consuming her apartment. Diana Wade's boyfriend who also lived in her apartment was at work. Her neighbor in the other occupied apartment at the time wasn't home.
"Thank God, he was there," Wade said about the stranger, "Because I couldn't have gotten my mom out in time. ... I'd like to thank him. He saved our lives,"
No injuries in Massillon house fire
City Fire Chief Matt Heck confirmed that no one was hurt. He said fire investigators will try to determine the cause. Heck did not yet have a damage estimate.
He said someone reported the fire around 5:32 p.m. Jackson Township, Erie Valley, Perry Township and Canton fire departments sent firefighters to assist. With temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, Heck said, some firefighters went through three tanks of oxygen fighting the blaze, which is unusually high. The fire did not spread to adjoining buildings.
The firefighters after blasting water from hoses and a ladder truck at flames in the side of the attic facing North Avenue had the fire under control by 7 p.m. Heck said firefighters continued looking for hot spots of the fire in the walls.
The home is across the street from Tree of Life Church. It's a block away from the Massillon Public Library. Smoke could be seen obscuring downtown along nearby Lincoln Way East.
125 years old
According to Stark County property records,the 2 1/2-story 125-year-old frame house is owned by F&M Properties, which is associated with Mildred and Grant "Fuzzy" Kowell. The Stark County Auditor's office has valued the building at $44,800 and the land at $18,600.
Wade said the house had four apartment units; two were vacant.
Wade's boyfriend returned from work to find firefighters battling the flames. He was dismayed to find out all his possessions appeared to have been destroyed.
Wade had taken her mother to a friend's house before returning.
"Everything's gone," she said.
Firefighters were able to prevent the flames from reaching her Corvette parked on Second Street NE. Heck said the fire did not reach a truck, owned by Wade or her boyfriend, in the backyard.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: A home at Second Street NE in Massillon caught fire
