North Campus Apartment Fire Has Students Thinking About Safety

A photo from the East Norwich Avenue apartment fire.

Columbus fire responded to a fire in the 100 block of East Norwich Avenue at about 5:30 a.m.

Firefighters pulled two victims, 34-year-oldChris Lennonand 31-year-old Jessica Walker, out of the burning apartment. They remain in critical condition at The Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center.

Battalion Chief Michael Fowler told NBC4 the male victim is not an Ohio State student but the female either is a student now or is an alumnus. The victims have not been identified while family and friends are told about the fire.

Brad Defauw lives next door to the apartment on East Norwich Ave. that burned Tuesday morning. He said it could have happened to him.

"But as far as, you know, a real fire during the night,I guess right now we don't even have any sort of protection at this point, said Defauw.

Thats because the two smoke detectors in his apartment are broken.

"This is right up here. This is where our smoke detector should be (pointing to a smoke detector without a cover)but obviously you can see that it's not really in place right now. We have a battery, but that battery is dead, explained Defauw.

What about the smoke detector upstairs?

"The battery has been beeping for quite some time, Defauw said.

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North Campus Apartment Fire Has Students Thinking About Safety