Man dies in apartment fire

One man died Thursday evening in a fire at Village Square Apartments, just off of U.S. 43 in Russellville.

Hershel King, 70, who lived in Apt. 206, was found lying in his living room floor near his couch about 5:30 p.m., Russellville Fire Chief Joe Mansell said.

King, who used a wheelchair and a walker, was pronounced dead at the scene by Franklin County Coroner Elzie Malone.

According to Mansell, the fire, reported at approximately 5:17 p.m., was contained to King’s apartment which was located on the second floor.

“When we received the dispatch from 911 that flames were visible from the apartment, we knew this was a bad fire; you could just hear the urgency in their voice,” Mansell said.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, Mansell said one crew was sent to fight the fire and one crew began evacuating the remaining residents.

“We knew we needed to get everyone out of the building to be safe, and then we needed to make sure everyone was accounted for,” he said.

Mansell said the door to King’s apartment was shut, a factor that possibly saved anyone else in the building from suffering injuries.

“Once our guys got inside the apartment, we saw that there was very little fire,” Mansell said. “If a fire doesn’t have oxygen to feed it, it will die out. With the door being closed and the window still intact, it kept the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.”

Mansell said Annette Wells, manager of Village Square Apartments, was instrumental in containing the fire to the one apartment.

“The building is equipped with a fire alarm system that immediately calls 911 and shows where the fire alarm was set off, so Annette was able to tell the fire was on the south hall of the second floor,” Mansell said.

“When she got to King’s apartment, she could see smoke coming from underneath the door, but after opening the door, the smoke was too heavy for her to continue.

“She made every effort to get to [King], but she just wasn’t able. She shut the door and immediately started evacuating the other residents.”

“I stepped just inside the door and could barely see the refrigerator, which was the only thing I could see,” Wells said. “In seconds, I couldn’t even see the refrigerator anymore, and I knew I couldn’t get to him. I shut the door to try to contain the smoke and started trying to get the other residents to safety. That was the only thing I could do then.”

Wells said King had lived in the apartment complex around 1996 and 1997 and had just moved back in recently.

“Mr. King was a wonderful man,” she continued. “He was very sweet and likeable. This is such a tragic event.”

Mansell said the other residents were lucky that Wells did the right thing by shutting the door and evacuating the building.

“It’s always a bad situation when we lose a life to a fire,” Mansell said, “but this situation could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for her quick action.”

The 49 residents, who were mainly elderly or had limited mobility, were transported by buses to the A.W. Todd Centre in downtown Russellville with the assistance of the Franklin County EMA and the American Red Cross.

Officers with the Russellville Police Department and both Pleasant Bay and NorthStar ambulance services were also assisting residents on the scene.

“I appreciate the fire department and other personnel that helped us,” Wells said. “Everything went as smoothly as it possibly could at that point.”

Richard Kennedy, a fire investigator with the real estate development company BREC Development in Birmingham, said he was impressed at how well this fire was contained.

“The firefighters who fought this fire didn’t swamp the building with water; they concentrated on the fire itself,” Kennedy said. “I have investigated fires all over the country and, most of the time, buildings suffer tremendous amounts of water damage.”

Kennedy added that when fires occur in multi-story apartment buildings, there is almost always damage to the apartment below, but that wasn’t the case here.

“The efficient way this fire was handled will expedite repairs and get the building back to its original condition a lot faster, which is a plus for the other residents.”

Residents were able to return to the apartment complex at 9:30 Thursday night. Residents who lived on the south hall of the second floor stayed with friends or other residents for the night and were able to return to their homes by Friday morning.

Mansell said a cause for the fire has not been determined. However, they do know that the living room and kitchen area of King’s apartment suffered the most damage.

Representatives from the State Fire Marshal’s Office were on the scene Thursday night and have already begun their investigation.

As part of the investigation, King’s body will be sent for an autopsy and they may know more about the cause of the fire once they receive those results.

“We hate that this fire had to end in tragedy,” Mansell said. “Many of the residents said what a nice man Mr. King was and we will all be praying for his family during their time of loss.

“This was a very bad situation, but I do appreciate all the work and cooperation of everyone at the scene.”