A 67-year-old man has perished following an apartment fire in Indianapolis' south side on Sunday afternoon. According to the WRTV report, the Indianapolis Fire Department dispatched crews to Crestwood Village Apartments, located at 8807 Madison Ave. The call came in just before 1 p.m., and the department's investigation preliminarily pointed to the fire being caused by improper use of smoking materials.
An apartment manager and another employee discovered the victim unresponsive after making their entry into the apartment when no response was heard to the sounding smoke alarm. "The department said the apartment manager entered an apartment after hearing the smoke alarm and receiving no response from the resident," WRTV reported. Despite using a small fire extinguisher to douse the flames, it was too late for the 67-year-old man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Further details were provided by FOX59, noting the fire had been small and contained to the living room of the unit. It did not spread to other parts of the building and other residents were not affected. However, the fatality adds grimly to the statistics, marking the fifth fire fatality within the IFD’s service district for the year.
While the cause of death is pending a determination by the Marion County Coroner, IFD has made it clear that the cause of the fire seems rooted in a commonplace yet deadly oversight. As per the statement provided to WTHR, "improper use of smoking materials" were the ignition point for this tragedy.
