Families evacuate due to basement fire in Westerville apartments

COLUMBUS (WCMH)–Firefighters responded to an apartment fire in the 3700 block at Woodvale Court in Blendon Township. But the Westerville Fire Department is taking over the investigation according to Fire Officials.

Smoke detectors woke up a man around 7:30 a.m. He opened the basement door to find heavy smoke and some flames. He got his wife and their four-year-old daughter out of the house safely.

When the Fire Department arrived, they contained the fire according to Firefighter Chief Brian Miller.

The fire started in the basement and rose up between two apartment units and neighboring apartments were evacuated according to Firefighter Chief Miller.

Officials say there’s extensive smoke damage in the two units and Red Cross is helping those families that may be displaced.

One family says, they’re looking for their cat, but all other pets are accounted for according to the Firefighter Officials.

There’s no word on what caused the fire yet.