MAN DIES IN LORAIN APARTMENT FIRE

A Lorain man was found dead in his East 28th Street apartment early Thursday morning after Firefighters were called to the apartment building to extinguish a fire.

The building, located at 228 East 28th Street, houses two small apartments in what use to be the Safe & Reliable Taxi / Limo company building. Officials in the city of Lorain did not know that the building had been converted into apartments. With no gas lines to the building the tenants were forced to use electrical space heaters to warm their apartments. It was the space heater that caused the early morning blaze and death of 52-year-old Eugene Smith.

Roger Martinez was Smith’s neighbor in the building and returned home from working a 12-hour shift at Safe & Reliable Cab just after 6am – it was then that Martinez spotted smoke in the hallway. Although he knocked on Smith’s door, there was no response. Martinez then quickly called 9-1-1 for the Fire Department.

When Firefighters arrived they made entry and found a smoldering couch and a smoke filled room. Smith was found dead on the bathroom floor. It is believed that he died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Debris from the fire was strewn across the front sidewalk during the morning hours after the fire but neighbors say Smith’s burnt out couch was removed before noon.

The State Fire Marshall’s office has begun an investigation along with the Lorain Police, Fire and Building Departments. The building has been sealed by order of the Health Department who deemed it “unsafe for human occupancy”.

Smith was injured in May of 2007 when he fell asleep on a couch in another East 28th Street apartment and the carpeting caught on fire. At that time Smith was treated for minor injuries.

There were no working smoke detectors in the building and Fire officials say that had there been working detectors Smith might be alive today.

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