Apr. fire leaves residents without a home

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A fire spreads through an apartment building in Wayne Township early Saturday morning forcing dozens of people out of their homes and sending one person to the hospital.

It started at 4:30 am at Crestwood Village Apartments. A fire started in the apartment of Herbert Derado’s Brother-in-Law. He’s now at Wishard Hospital recovering from smoke inhalation and Derado is trying to salvage what's left. "Its pretty scary when you get a phone call at 4:30 in the morning.

It must have been a pretty hot fire. I don't know have any reasons why it happened or how at this time,” says Herbert Derado.

The fire started in the apartment but smoke spread throughout the building. For safety reasons around 70 people were evacuated, around 20 people at the time were displaced and 3 people were treated on the scene while one in serious condition was sent to the hospital.

"This is a very fragile situation when you're dealing with the elderly because we have medical issues, they need medicines and we want to make sure they're taken care of the best that we can possibly do," says Michael Pruitt the Division Chief of Wayne Township Fire Department.

A spokesperson with Crestwood Village Apartments says their emergency preparedness plan worked. According to fire officials a fire that large is what they plan for.

“This is all interior hallways in this building so evacuation became our high priority. We've trained here, we've worked these buildings many times. So we kind of had a plan in place already to get these victims out,” explains Division Chief Pruitt.

A spokeswoman with Crestwood Village Apartments says everyone returned home, except 6 people who are living with family members or in guest suites in the complex.

Fire officials are still investigating what caused the fire but say at this point it looks to be accidental.