Police: Cigarette ashes may have sparked fire
By Jennifer Mitchell
Rocky River
WEB POSTED 1:00 PM JUNE 8, 2006

WEB UPDATE: A Tuesday morning fire at Heritage House condominiums killed John Heyer, 83, and his neighbor Christine McSteen, 50. It also destroyed the building's third floor. Police said the fire, still under investigation, possibly was started by cigarette ashes and likely will be ruled accidental.

Heyer's widow, Frances, called 9-1-1 to report the blaze at about 1 a.m. As of Wednesday, she was being treated for third-degree burns at MetroHealth Medical Center's burn unit. Fairview Hospital treated Officer Kenneth Thompson for smoke inhalation, releasing him Wednesday after an overnight stay and, Officer David Kenney received outpatient treatment for the same at Lakewood Hospital.

2 die in condo blaze
By Jennifer Mitchell
Rocky River
Published June 7, 2006

Police confirmed two residents dead — a woman, 50, and a man, 83, — and two hospitalized with  burns following a colossal blaze at the Heritage House Condominiums on Pease Drive early yesterday. Two police officers also were medically examined for smoke inhalation.

Lt. Terry Hudec of the Rocky River Police said yesterday the cause of the fire was still under investigation. The alarm came in at about 1:10 a.m., and firefighters from Fairview Park, Lakewood and Westlake were among those aiding Rocky River in dousing the three-story inferno.

The fire caused the roof on the third floor to collapse on the northern wing and part of the main wing.

Because the building’s third story collapsed, a Cleveland Fire Department canine unit came in to search for additional victims. Though it discovered no more casualties, Police Chief Donald Wagner said the city was following up with a thorough search of debris.

“We actually need to shovel around there and make sure there is no one that needs help,” Wagner said at press time yesterday. “We want to be very careful about this.”

The state fire marshal also was on the scene. Wagner said the city plans to post a guard until his investigation is over.

The building, which Hudec said has approximately 70 units, is a mix of condo owners and renters. That may create insurance issues, Wagner said. Insurers of owners and renters were being contacted yesterday.

“They’ve got to get involved here,” Wagner said.

Wagner, giving a “conservative” estimate, said the building’s collapsed third floor and the smoke and water damage on the first and second floors must tally at least $1 million.

Assisted by the Red Cross, residents of the structure were evacuated to the Don Umerley Civic Center during the early morning hours. By 10 a.m. yesterday, Hudec said only a few remained. Though many found other places to go, they couldn’t return home.

“It looks like a total loss,” Hudec said of the structure.

Wagner said he could not release the names of the dead until notifying family members, but that they both lived in third floor units. One of the hospitalized burn victims is the widow of the 83-year-old man. Officials said that the couple’s apartment is possibly where the blaze ignited.

In 2000, another person died in a fire at the same condominium complex.

On the Web:

• Photos of the fire from Channel 3 News