Saddened By Fire
My now wife (then girlfriend) and I moved from our parents homes to the Cass Corridor back in ’97. Our first apartment was called Forest Arms (located on the SW corner of Forest and Second). It (like most Corridor buildings) was ancient by American standards. We lived in the building for two years and the time we spent there is held near to our hearts. First time away from the nest, ya’ know?
I am deeply saddened to find that early this morning Forest Arms caught fire. Two people were injured and one is presumed dead. The building did sustain damage. I can only hope the injuries will heal and that the damage isn’t severe enough to side with demolition over repair.
EDIT:
Links:
Discuss Detroit: Forest Arms Fire
Forest Arms Fire (dETROITfUNK)
We lived in apartment #409. It was on the top floor furthest to the right on the inside center section. One of the photographs on dETROITfUNK shows that specific apartment is now, in essence, gone. There was a violinist named Julio that used to live one door down from us. It’s speculated that’s where the blaze began.
Such a damn shame. I don’t like that anyone at all was hurt, let alone killed, but from the bit of info I’ve gleamed from here and there (getting insider info from Denver is a lot harder than it was when I lived in-state, heh), at least it seems like the death was the asshat who started the blaze in the first place .
What a loss.
From the detroityes message boards:
Danny, I hate to break it to you but you’re wrong. My boyfriend lives in that building and he and I watched them put the flames out this morning. I spoke with a firefighter (chaplain) on the scene and he said the building will probably be have to be demolished. He also said that they’ve pretty much determined that arson is the cause. The details are still fishy but he said they believe a tenant barricaded his apartment and set it the blaze. I too have heard rumors about an attempted suicide but the firefighter couldn’t confirm anything. This is awful. I just hope they’ll let the residents go in to their apartments to see if anything is salvagable. I can’t even express my grief really. We are devastated.
Thanks MCR.
A Benefit Show for the Victims of the Forest Arms Apartment Fire (Feb. 15th at 7PM)