Fire in South Bend leaves ten displaced, one under arrest

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- An overnight fire on the West side of South Bend on the corner of Huron and Carlisle streets leaves ten residents displaced and one man under arrest for arson.

“I was watching T.V. and then, I smell some kind of burning,” says Jose Herrera, a resident at the building. “I was like, what’s burning?”

The fire started just before 11:00 P.M. on Tuesday night, and South Bend fire crews stayed on scene until the flames were extinguished at about 3:30 A.M.

Just hours later, hot spots caused a second round of response from firefighters.

“This morning, we had what we call a rekindle, there were a couple hotspots that heated back up, so the next shift came out and extinguished those hotspots,” says Assistant Chief of Prevention Fire Marshal for the South bend Fire Department, Gerard Ellis.

South Bend Police arrested 53-year-old Antonio Martinez on-scene on a charge of arson. It is unknown why he may have caused the fire.

“I’ve never seen the guy before, I mean I was living here with the neighbors too and I’ve never seen the guy around before,” Herrera says.

The mixed-use property housed several apartments on the second floor like Herrera’s. The 10 total residents are now displaced from their homes.

“Our job is to get to these folks immediately and address their basic needs, the two biggest basic needs are food and shelter,” says Kristin Marlow, Executive Director for The American Red Cross, Northwest Region.

With help from the American Red Cross, residents that may not have a back-up plan in place are receiving support.

“We go and work directly with each one of the clients and make sure they have immediate food, shelter, what is their next steps, we make sure that we know where they’re going to be so we can work with them on that recovery plan,” Maslow explains. “Again, very often it’s one thing to have a place to stay for 24 hours, 48 hours after an event, but then if we’re not able to return to our home or apartment, where do we go next?”

Stay with ABC57 for updates on this investigation.