HAMILTON, Ohio — Residents at a Hamilton apartment complex are once again displaced after the second fire in less than a month.
When firefighters arrived to the complex on Beth Lane in Hamilton just after 3 a.m. Thursday, they said flames were coming from the roof.
Crews were able to quickly get the fire under control. Investigators have not said if anyone was injured.
"One of my worst fears is fires in a house and now twice in a month," one resident said.
This same building caught fire a few weeks ago.
On May 9, a Ross High School student and football player rescued two people including a deaf woman.
Justin Pence used sign language to communicate with her.
Pence now has an open invitation to become a Hamilton firefighter.
Pence doesn't consider himself a hero, but others would argue he is.
"Yeah I'd absolutely call him a hero," Hamilton Fire Chief Mark Mercer said.
Thursday's fire damage looks to be more severe than the fire a few weeks ago.
"Opened the door and there was fire above and it totally engulfed the entire inside of the apartment — the smoke," an anonymous tenant told WCPO. "That's when I stumbled through and it was so pitch black I was running into coffee table and couch."
The man said while his kids normally stay with him, they weren't in the apartment when the fire broke out.
"Yeah, that's definitely a blessing," he said.
Reconstruction crews called in to secure the building following the first fire were back out again picking up the pieces.
"It's a first for me. I haven't seen this happen before," Joe Smallwood said.
Smallwood is an estimator with Crusa Construction and Restoration Services. He said he didn't know there was a second fire until he returned to the apartment Thursday to check on restoration progress from the first one.
"We took some building materials out the first time and the fire had more room, more oxygen to kind of hit the roof," he said. "It went straight to the roof."
Investigators say they were still looking into the cause of the May 9 fire when this one broke out. Both are still being investigated.
Additional damage caused by the second could potentially compromise findings in the first investigation, but crews said they hope that isn't the case.
"To think that a fire can happen at the same place within weeks?" Khristine Dirr said.
She lives around the corner and said she witnessed both fires. This one hits too close to home.
"I live by myself and right down the street so it's just scary and I feel so bad for the people that live there," she said.
American Red Cross tell WCPO they've opened eight cases at the apartment in the past month. The first fire, which only damaged the top floor, displaced four families. ARC opened an additional four cases Thursday aiding a total of nine people, six adults and three children.
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