Menard said the home had just been issued an occupancy permit, but the owners hadn't moved moved back in yet. He said the house was struck by lightning last year, and the owners were living elsewhere while they had the damaged repaired and the home renovated.

 

It took firefighters about an hour to bring the blaze under control but they stayed on the scene until early Saturday morning because an excavator had to be brought in to remove portions of the home that had collapsed into the basement, Menard said.

He said the Pittsfield Township Fire Department assisted by bringing its 100-foot tower truck to the scene.

Menard said the home was a total loss. The damage was estimated at $500,000 for the home, and $150,000 for its contents.

Nicholas Ferrario had driven from Chicago to Ann Arbor to visit his parents on Friday night, and arrived in the neighborhood just as the fire broke out.

"Within five minutes of us arriving, the Fire Department arrived,'' he said. "Our understanding was that no one was living there because they were doing construction on it.''

An investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing.

Ann Arbor fire Captain Randy Menard said the fire began at 5:02 p.m. and the first crew was on scene seven minutes later. By 5:30 p.m., the blaze was extinguished, he said.

Menard said the homeowner was burning weeds outside the home, which caused the grass on the lawn to light. The grass fire then spread to the side of the house and up into the attic, Menard said.

No one was injured, although the homeowner's wife did complain of a sore throat, Menard said. She did not seek medical attention.

Menard said bedrooms inside the home were damaged, along with the roof and siding that had burned. Firefighters had to break through the home to make sure all the insulation inside the residence was free of embers, he said.

A monetary estimate for the damage was not immediately available on Wednesday.

 

 

The Ann Arbor Fire Department responded to the call at 3050 Jackson Road with Ypsilanti and Pittsfield departments at about 11:30 p.m., said AAFD Battalion Chief Randy Menard.

"There was heavy smoke found in the basement area coming into the upper level," Menard said. "... We had to evacuate the entire complex."

The fire started in a lower level storage room and it was contained to that area, Menard said.

However, smoke spread throughout much of the facility.

"We didn’t hear much," said Ralph Hale, an Ann Arbor resident who was on an indoor patio with friends who had rented a poolside room. "We had heard that the fire alarms were going off, although we didn’t hear them initially.

"They evacuated the pool, people were meandering around, and the hotel staff were going around telling people to evacuate.”

The kitchen had to be shut down, but the wedding party was able to get back into its banquet room and continue celebrating after about an hour, Menard said.

However, officials had been preparing to relocate guests to other facilities in case that step was necessary, said Ann Arbor Police Sgt. Mike Sherba.

Two guests who left Weber's after the evacuation order told AnnArbor.com that the hotel seemed full. In addition to the wedding party, the pool area was busy with birthday parties for teenagers, a water aerobics group and revelers who had gathered to watch college basketball games on television.

Hale said the alarm bells were not initially audible from the pool area of the hotel.

"It just seemed a little strange that the whole hotel wasn't buzzing with alarms," he said.

There were no injuries, Menard said, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation. A damage estimate was not available Sunday morning.

Weber's, established 75 years ago as a restaurant that grew into a hotel and banquet facility, recently completed a $4 million renovation.

Weber's staff on Sunday morning said a manager was not available to comment.

Freelance writer Sven Gustafson contributed to this story

Emergency crews were dispatched to the Broadway Street auto shop sometime around 6:30 p.m., and the fire was out by 6:50 p.m. Ann Arbor Fire Department Assistant Chief Steven Lowe said the fire was heaviest in the center and northeast bays of the shop.

Lowe did not immediately have the exact time crews were sent to the scene available Monday evening.

Despite the large amounts of flammable materials, such as oil and tires, in the shop, Lowe said the first responders to the scene managed to keep the blaze under control and extinguish it quickly.

"It could've been a lot bigger, but the first responding crews did a great job of knocking it down," Lowe said.

Two auto shop employees were inside the garage when the fire started but they managed to escape unharmed, Lowe said.

Employees of Broadway Auto declined comment when approached by AnnArbor.com outside the scene Monday evening.

At around 7:30 p.m., Ann Arbor police were redirecting traffic at the Broadway and Maiden Lane, and Broadway and Swift intersections. The westbound lane of Broadway was closed over the Huron River.

The majority of the damage was on the northeast side of the building. One car that was being worked on was a burned out shell, while two others in the shop were damaged. The office side of the building appeared to be relatively undamaged.

Lowe said it was possible that firefighters could have been working three car fires, given the vehicles that were in the garage.

About half of the building was on fire when firefighters first arrived on scene, with the majority of flames and smoke coming from the roof above the center and northeast bays, Lowe said. The back of the building was also in flames, he said.

Huron Valley Ambulance crews responded to the scene and remained as firefighters stripped the building of anything flammable to keep the fire from rekindling.

DTE also was on scene to cut gas and power.

An investigation into what caused the fire will begin once crews are done clearing the scene, Lowe said.

 

 

Firefighters evacuated a number of residents from the third floor until they extinguished the fire, the release said. The blaze caused extensive damage to the kitchen of the man's apartment and minor smoke damage to the rest of the apartment.

Fire officials could not immediately be reached for comment Monday morning.

 

DTE Energy spokesman John Austerberry said the leak was caused by a contractor working the area that hit a six-inch steel gas main running through the area.

DTE crews were still in the area working to get the gas shut off so repairs to the gas main, which puts out 10 pounds of pressure, could be made, Austerberry said.

There was no estimate on how long that work would take, Austerberry said, speaking just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Liberty Street was closed on either side of Division Street with one fire truck blocking traffic near Thompson Street and another blocking traffic just west of the Division Street intersection. Division Street was also shut down south of Liberty Street.

The McKinley Town Centre at the intersection of Division and Liberty was being evacuated, according to dispatchers.

Police and fire officials were not able to immediately comment on the situation as they were in the process of responding to the gas leak just before 5 p.m. Thursday.

Pedestrians were still allowed to walk through the area Thursday evening.

Check back with AnnArbor.com as we get more information on this incident.

Ann Arbor firefighters went to the station at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday after three workers at the station began feeling ill, said Battalion Chief Randy Menard. The Washtenaw County Hazardous Materials Response Team also responded and determined cash at the station used to purchase money orders had been contaminated with chemicals from a methamphetamine lab, Menard said.

Authorities also called in the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and Michigan State Police, Menard said.

The substance that made the workers feel ill had not been identified, Menard said, but authorities determined it was on a large sum of cash that was used to purchase money orders at the station.

The workers were taken to the hospital for evaluation, but were not believed to have been seriously injured.