A fire in Lathrup Village claimed the life of one person Tuesday night, with local police currently investigating the circumstances that led to the blaze. The Detroit News reported that the Lathrup Village police discovered a house on the 18700 block of Lacrosse Avenue near 12 Mile and Southfield Road completely engulfed in flames.
Multiple fire departments were called to the scene, where they fought the flames that had consumed the residence. After extinguishing the fire, responders found the remains of one individual inside the home, the person was pronounced dead at the scene, "This is an ongoing investigation and residents are asked to avoid the area at this time," police stated. Patch.com added that there were no other injuries reported in the incident, and as of now, the cause of the fire has not been established.
The Patch echoes the police's call for residents to steer clear of the area while the investigation continues. Despite the swift response from the fire departments, the structure appears to be a total loss.
Chief John Menifee spoke about the incident, per WXYZ, "This fire had a tremendous head start on us," he said, "It was fully involved when we arrived on scene. Time is always our friend and unfortunately, with this fire, we didn't have a lot of time." Menifee noted the importance of mental health for the firefighters who often face difficult and distressing scenes like this one, "We will be going through a debriefing and we check on every one of our firefighters to make sure they are okay. That's very important, the mental health aspect, as well as our fire prevention staff. The whole community, everyone is affected in a time like this." WXYZ reported that authorities had challenges due to a significant amount of debris in the home which impeded the search and rescue efforts.
