Arson-damaged Ravenna apartment to be razed
After firefighters were forced to return twice in less than 12 hours to a Ravenna apartment building heavily damaged in an arson fire Sunday evening, the structure will be demolished.
Ravenna Fire Chief Mark Chapple said Wednesday that a second fire at the building at 629 Hazen Ave. late Tuesday night burned off the remainder of the structure's roof.
"The building is considered to be condemned to the point where it's going to be (demolished Thursday) morning, starting at nine o'clock," said Chapple.
Firefighters first responded after fire was reported a little before 7 p.m. Sunday. Chapple said the fire began in a second-floor apartment. Ravenna Police also responded and helped residents in a dozen units leave the building. No serious injuries were reported.
A 64-year-old female resident is charged with first-degree aggravated arson in Portage County Municipal Court. Police said the woman allegedly admitted to starting a fire in the middle of her living room, opening a sliding glass door and watching the fire spread throughout the building.
Police said that when they first saw the woman while helping residents leave the building, they noticed she had burns and cuts on her arms. The woman then made statements to officers about “Trump and Biden sending people to kill her," according to police.
EMS treated the woman at the scene and she was taken to University Hospitals Portage Medical Center.
The Record-Courier is not identifying the woman who is being treated for a mental health crisis.
Chapple said firefighters were called to a second fire on the building's third, top floor about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Due to the extensive damage from the first fire, the cause of the second fire cannot be determined, he said.
"An investigation would be impossible to conduct, so to make a determination of what caused the fire to light the second time was next to impossible," he said.
Firefighters from Ravenna and Rootstown then responded a third time about 9 a.m. Wednesday. This time, Chapple said, there was no fire, only smoke. Chapple said it is believed this was due to hot spots that still smoldered in large piles of debris inside the building.
Foam was sprayed through the structure until firefighters were confident it was entirely out.
Residents lose home, belongings
GoFundMe pages have been set up for at least two residents who lost most or all of their belongings in the fire. They can be found at these shortened links, tinyurl.com/ycydkavr and tinyurl.com/5e6xhzet.
One of the residents, Jazmine Green, told the Record-Courier on Wednesday that she escaped from her third-floor apartment with just her dog and the clothes she was wearing.
"I think what happened to all of us, all the victims, was really traumatic and horrifying," the 23-year-old Green said.
Green said she had gotten home about a half hour before the fire after eating dinner at her grandmother's home. She took her dog, an 8-year-old male American Bully named Menace, outside and then went to lie down in her bedroom.
"I was just dozing off to sleep when I heard my neighbor pound on my door," she said. Green said she also began to hear what she thought was a car alarm outside. It actually was the fire alarm downstairs.
"And then I realized that smoke was pouring in under my bedroom door," said Green. "So I was frantically calling my dog, looking for my dog, and he came to me. He led me out my apartment and he dragged me outside."
Green said that because the fire was an arson, she does not think the building's insurance will pay for residents' lost property. She added that she had no renters' insurance, and doubts other residents did either. She said she is hopeful they'll get back their security deposits.
"I'm bouncing around from family members' basements right now and my top priority right now is getting a temporary foster [home] for my dog," said Green. "I'm not going to get rid of him, I can't lose him. I'm trying to foster him just for about two or three weeks so I can try to get another apartment."
Green estimated that she spoke briefly with the suspect a few times over about a year that she lived in the apartment building, adding that police had spoken with her before Wednesday's incident.
The State Fire Marshall and Ravenna Police are investigating the incident. Anyone with additional information about the incident is encouraged to contact the detective bureau of the Ravenna Police Department at 330-296-6486, or the Ravenna Fire Department at 330-297-5738.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Arson-damaged Ravenna apartment to be razed after second fire
