DAYTON — Officers responding to a reported break in Dayton caught the moments a deadly apartment fire started on Grafton Avenue Saturday and helped alert residents, according to a police incident report.
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A crew was investigating a reported breaking and entering in the 500 block of West Grand Street around 3 a.m. when the officers heard banging and yelling coming from the Grafton Avenue apartment building.
They noticed several flashes of bright light coming from a third story apartment window before the fire started, according to the report.
People inside the apartment then opened the window and began screaming for help.
An officer contacted 911 dispatchers about the fire and went inside the apartment building and tried to alert all the residents and get them to leave the building.
Police tried to get to the apartment where the fire started, but according to the report, explosions, flames and smoke prevented them from entering.
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Raymond Russell, one of the people living in the impacted apartment, told News Center 7’s Monica Castro that the fire started after he plugged in a battery charged and it exploded.
He said that when he realized he couldn’t put the fire out, he tried to get his husband to the window.
Russell said he was hanging from the window when he saw his partner collapse.
Russell dropped to the ground, breaking his ankle in the process.
Firefighters evacuated the building, knocked down the fire and confirmed that one person died in the fire.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office is conducting an autopsy has not released the name of the victim at this time.
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The fire department is investigating and will confirm if the fire began when Russell plugged in a battery charger and if it was defective or if there was a problem with the electrical wiring.
The Red Cross is aiding those displaced by the fire.
We will continue to update this story as more information is available.
