Man dies in VBT apartment fire on Saturday morning

Van Buren Township Fire Dept.
News Release
At 3:55 a.m. Saturday, May 24, the Van Buren Department of Public Safety was dispatched to the 41000 block of Bellridge Drive (Bellridge Apartments near Independence and Haggerty Roads) for an activated smoke alarm.
911 callers reported that smoke was gathering in the common hallways.
Engine 2, Ladder 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Rescue 1, and Utility 1, along with several patrol cars, responded to the call.
While responding to the call it was reported that a ground floor apartment was well-involved with fire and the windows were beginning to break out.
Engine 2 and Ladder 1 arrived at the scene at 4:05 a.m. and found Van Buren Police Officers, who had been pushed back by the fire and heat coming from the apartment, were assisting residents of the building evacuate.
Firefighters entered the apartment and performed fire suppression in conjunction with searching for possible occupants. Moments after entering the apartment fire crews, performing a primary search, discovered an occupant, who was still lying in bed, deceased.
Firefighters also worked quickly to extinguish the fire to prevent it from spreading to other apartments and the scene was brought under control at 04:52 a.m.
Firefighters were assisted by the Van Buren Police Department, the Michigan State Police, and the City of Belleville Fire Department. At the time of this news release (9 a.m.) investigators from the Michigan State Police, Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Van Buren Department of Public Safety were still on scene.
Information about the deceased person, a male, is being withheld pending positive identification by the Wayne County Medical Examiner and notification of the next of kin. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Michigan State Police.
No other injuries were reported. One family, displaced by the fire, was assisted by the Van Buren Department of Public Safety’s Chaplin Program. Preliminary fire loss is estimated at $75,000.
— Fire Chief Dan Besson
Van Buren Township