Fire Department

The Madison Fire Department was called to an eight unit residential building just after midnight for a fire on the second floor. Three of the five people who were home when the fire broke out were able to escape immediately. Heat and heavy smoke trapped the remaining two people upstairs. One resident made his way to a roof area at the front of the house and the other person was able to get on to a rear roof section.
When fire crews arrived on scene Madison Police officers showed them the location of the people that were trapped on the roof and they were rescued using ladders. The crew from Engine 3 continued on to fight the fire from the outside of the building while Engine 8 made an interior attack from the front entrance. The fire was able to be contained mainly to one room upstairs and crews had the fire quickly knocked down by 12:30 am. The building is equipped with automatic fire sprinklers which also helped to keep the fire from spreading to other parts of the house.
Searches of the entire building were made to ensure that everyone had gotten out safely and the building was ventilated using fans to remove the smoke. No residents or firefighters were injured by the blaze but due to the fire damage to the building none of the residents were able to return home. The Red Cross is assisting the seven displaced persons to find other accommodations. Investigators are continuing to look into the cause of the fire and there are no damage estimates at his time.