Three saved from early morning condo fire

Three individuals were recused Tuesday from an early morning condo fire in Hoover.

An adult man called Hoover Fire Department Nov. 1 around 3 a.m. saying his condo at The Haven Apartments was on fire and he could not get out, said Hoover Fire Department Executive Officer Rusty Lowe. In the three-floor condo, the fire was on the second floor and had trapped the man and his two elderly parents on the third floor, where the bedrooms are located, Lowe said.

“The man reported he was asleep and his smoke alarms went off and alerted him to the [fire]," Lowe said. “Luckily the smoke alarms were functioning. … It’s a perfect example of why you should have functioning smoke alarms"

The man was able to get his parents to a window, and they all waited on a ledge outside the third-floor window waiting for the fire department to arrive. Once they arrived, firefighters put up a ladder,  got the man and his parents safely down and extinguished the fire in about 15 minutes, Lowe said. The fire caused heavy damage to the second floor and smoke damage to the third floor, but no neighboring condos were affected, he added.

Without a functioning smoke alarm, the fire department might have had to rescue the occupants from the inside of the condo, rather than on the ledge, Lowe said. He went on to encourage everyone to check the date on their smoke alarms and said if they are more than 10 years old, it is time to replace the smoke alarm.

The cause of the fire appears to be accidental, but it is under investigation, Lowe said.