Fire alarms and sprinklers went off again Monday morning at St. Paul Apartments, a high-rise at 1330 Forsyth St. plagued by recent arsons. Macon-Bibb County fire investigator Sgt. Steve Wesson said several fires have been reported at the building in the past three or four weeks.
“A resident was setting something on fire and throwing it down the trash chute, causing the Dumpster to catch on fire,” Wesson said before leaving the apartments Monday morning.
About 5:30 a.m., Macon-Bibb firefighters responded to a small fire in room 904, a vacant apartment that was being used for storage, Macon-Bibb fire investigator Lt. Ben Gleaton said.
The room had been burglarized, some tools stolen and a fire set, Wesson said. “I hope you get whoever. This is crazy,” fourth-floor resident Brigitte Gramke told the investigators as she walked her dog outside the brick building near downtown Macon. “It’s really bad.”
A Bibb County deputy arrested Robert Walter Hutchens, 75, who lives in room 901 at St. Paul Apartments. Hutchens was charged with burglary, according to Bibb County jail records, and stolen tools were recovered.
Additional charges are pending if Hutchens is found responsible for the fire. The sprinkler system caused water damage in some of the building, Gleaton said.
“It has to cost a fortune and usually it’s arson,” Gramke said of the multiple fires. The St. Paul Apartments manager declined to comment Monday morning.
An electrical fire forced several elderly residents to temporarily evacuate from the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center in Northampton early Saturday morning.
Mark Spees told 22News his wife lives there. He said he rushed to her side as soon as he heard what had happened. “Got up this morning got a cup of coffee, turned on the news… the coffee’s still on the table because I just started moving,” he said.
When Spees got to the CareOne Nursing-Rehab Center, he was relieved to find out his wife was safe and sound. “Unbelievable, you know, all I could think was what’s happening? What’s going on? How’s my wife? When you’ve been married for 43 years you tend to worry,” he said.
Northampton Deputy Fire Chief Timothy McQueston told 22News an air conditioning unit plugged into an outlet on the third floor sparked the fire. Fortunately, the building’s sprinkler system helped keep the fire from spreading, and no one was seriously hurt.
Later that morning, crews were still cleaning up pieces of shard glass where firefighters had to bust open a window to rescue a woman trapped inside. She was one of three people taken to the hospital by ambulance, as the building’s staff ushered the other residents to safety.
At least 30 people on the third floor of the building had to be moved to other locations temporarily because of the damage.
The experience highlighted a fear that many children, husbands, and wives have as their family members get older and require extra care.
Leann Worsnop of Easthampton told 22News it’s hard not to worry about your parents when they no longer live under your care. “It’s as if it was your own child, the same thing, the same feelings, just you know, what can you do? It’s a feeling of helplessness, and then the whole fear of what actually happened,” she said.
The three residents who went to the hospital are expected to be ok. No one was else was injured.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
