Residents concerned after multiple fires at Castle Point Apartments

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- “I have no words. I’m just thankful for my life right now," said Daryn Chandler, who had no idea her apartment was about to go up in smoke.

On the evening of March 6, she was giving her young son a bath before going to bed-- and as they were finishing up-- her son said he smelled smoke.

“He’s got a keen nose," she said. "He recognized it before we did.”

Chandler looked out her window and saw flames. She woke up her brother and they tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher from the hallway, but it continued to burn. That's when they decided to get out-- and knocked on other resident's doors to get them out as well.

The Clay Township Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter and contained the fire. While thankfully no one was injured-- Chandler is concerned that the situation could have been worse. 

“There were no smoke alarms," she said. "There was no indication that there was a fire in the building.”

And just a few days later, another fire broke out in the complex-- affecting multiple units-- some of them Chandler knew personally-- though all managed to get out safely.

She's thankful they managed to avoid tragedy-- but for her, enough is enough.

“My plans are to move on," she said. "I don’t think we’ll be back at Castle Point.”

ABC57 reached out to Clay Township Fire Department for an official cause of the fire-- but they were not able to comment-- and Castle Point did not return our call for comment.