A room in a house across from Second Baptist Church on Red Oak Rd. caught fire Wednesday evening around 3:45.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Ann Arbor firefighters extinguished a fire that displaced a family on Red Oak Road this afternoon.

Battalion Chief Robert Vogel said the house fire, reported at about 3:45 p.m., was caused by disregarded smoking material.

Although the fire was contained to one room, much of the rest of the house had smoke damage, making it uninhabitable for the rest of the day, Vogel said.

No one was injured, but the homeowner's child was there at the time, officials said.

Damage was estimated at $50,000.

Firefighters regroup after extinguishing a fire in an apartment house on North Adams Street in Ypsilanti today.

Steve Pepple | AnnArbor.com

A fire this morning damaged two units in an apartment house in the 300 block of North Adams Street, Ypsilanti fire officials said.

No one was injured in the 11:30 a.m. blaze, which broke out on the second-floor of the two-story home, fire Capt. Dan Cain said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Cain said. There are five apartments in the house - two upstairs and three downstairs - but Cain didn't know how many people were displaced. One unit on each floor was damaged.

A firefighter checks for hot spots in a second floor apartment of a house that caught on fire today.

Steve Pepple | AnnArbor.com

About 18 firefighters from Ypsilanti, Superior Township, Ypsilanti Township and Ann Arbor responded, Cain said. They had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, he said.

Matt Fleming, 29, said he was getting ready for work in his second-floor apartment when smoke seeped into his bedroom.

He opened his bedroom door, and the living room filled with smoke, he said. Fleming rushed to his roommate's bedroom, woke him up, and both hurried outside.

"I was just glad I was able to get my roommate out of there," he said. "...I was just freaking out."

Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527(734) 623-2527 and email at leehiggins@annarbor.com.

A kitchen fire caused minor injuries to one resident and evacuations during the busy lunch hour at Brookhaven Manor Apartments on the Ann Arbor's south side today, fire officials said.

Officials say the fire was contained to one room in the retirement home, although smoke spread to all three floors of the building at 401 West Oakbrook Drive.

Battalion Chief Kevin Cook said the building's fire alarm triggered at about 12:16 p.m., and dispatchers received word that a room was on fire as they were responding.

"The hallway was really smoked up when they got there," Cook said.

The fire was contained to a unit on the ground floor on the eastern side of the building. Because of the smoke, numerous residents were evacuated for about an hour, and other residents were told to stay in their rooms, Cook said.

Crews were on the scene for about 90 minutes ventilating the building. Cook said all residents were allowed back inside, but the damaged apartment can't be occupied until it is cleaned.

The woman whose room was damaged was taken to the hospital for evaluation, Cook said.

The Washtenaw County Public Health Department responded to inspect the food in the building.

Cook said all 20 of the city's firefighters on duty were needed at the scene.

A damage estimate has not been calculated.

Just three weeks after agreeing to voluntary concessions that included a 4 percent reduction in compensation, Ann Arbor firefighters could be taking another hit.

Members of the firefighters union have been informed the city is looking at laying off 19 firefighters starting in July and eliminating another vacant position. That's six more positions than were previously slated to be cut.

The hats of three firefighters who were facing layoffs last month sit on a truck at Station 4 in Ann Arbor. Their jobs may be back on the chopping block.

Another 17 positions in the police department also face elimination in an effort to trim $1.98 million from what was projected to be a $26.5 million budget for the department in the next fiscal year. That includes laying off nine sworn police officers, seven positions within the community standards division and one management assistant.

With 13 firefighters' jobs on the chopping block last month, the union agreed to voluntary pay cuts to avoid layoffs through July. But they had no guarantee of what would happen after that grace period ended.

"I'm at a loss to understand it," said Craig Ferris, a lieutenant with the fire department. "I just don't know how we can make the efforts that we made and the sacrifice that we made, and then to hear this. It doesn't make sense. That's like doing a guy a favor and having him come back and hit you with a baseball bat."

Ann Arbor City Council members were provided a series of budget impact sheets tonight in preparation for a working session scheduled for Monday night. The reports show city staff's proposed plans for trimming 7.5 percent from the budgets of every service area in the city, with public safety being no exception.

Police Chief Barnett Jones, the city's safety services administrator, said the City Council ultimately will decide how to handle the defiict the city is facing.

"We're beginning a process where we have to meet a target number," he said, noting personnel costs represent about 80 percent of the budgets within public safety. "To meet those target numbers, it will require us to get into personnel because there's nothing else. It's a very lean operation."

Jones said the police department currently has 123 officers, while the fire department has 94 firefighters counting the chief and two management assistants.

The budget sheets show cuts already implemented this year, cuts already scheduled to take effect in July, and what would happen if the recommendations for the additional 7.5 percent reductions took effect.

The fire department has a $13.3 million projected budget for the next fiscal year after having already made $677,678 in cuts this year.

The layoff of 13 firefighters and elimination of one vacant position still are scheduled to take effect in July, which will save nearly $1.4 million. Additionally, another six firefighters could be laid off - for a total elimination of 20 firefighter positions in July. The additional cuts would save another $997,445.

"This will result in the closing of fire substations, resulting in increased response times due to crews responding from the remaining fire districts," the budget sheet prepared by city staff reads. "Service reduction may impact regional response agreement talks and may void response agreement draft with Ypsilanti."

The staff analysis also states the cuts would take daily staffing levels below national standards to effectively and safely fight an average sized home fire and may raise insurance rates.

Matt Schroeder, president of the Local 693 firefighters union, said firefighters are taking the news hard.

"We were hopeful coming out of the contract and looked to work to problem-solve these issues, but I don't think they're being fairly represented by the city right now," he said, adding that firefighters feel like city officials haven't been forthcoming with budget information. Firefighters also question why city officials are spending tens of millions of dollars on capital projects such as a new police-courts building.

"It just seems like we're trying to make up for their mistakes," Schroeder said.

Ferris said he doesn't understand how the number of firefighters facing layoff has grown to 19 seemingly overnight.

"It just seems unbelievable that this is what they're going to ask for now," he said. "We're making an effort, we're doing so much more with so fewer people than we ever have before, and now we're doing it for less pay, and we did it to save jobs and keep the city safe. And instead of coming back and saying 'thanks for your effort,' (the city administrator) comes back saying we're going to lay off 19 people."

Firefighters say they're disheartened they're being asked to dig further into their pockets when City Administrator Roger Fraser and other top city administrators still haven't agreed to any pay cuts themselves. However, some members of the Ann Arbor City Council did agree to a 3 percent pay cut for themselves last month.

The firefighters union continues to reach out to the University of Michigan's Board of Regents to discuss the plight of the fire department. Firefighters are hopeful the university, which doesn't pay taxes to the city but receives city services, will agree to help cover their share of costs for fire protection to save jobs.

Schroeder said the fire department already struggles to meet national standards, which state that the first company (a truck with three firefighters) should arrive on the scene within four minutes and a full alarm assignment (15 to 17 people, depending on the need for an aerial apparatus) should arrive within eight minutes.

"We're minimally meeting those standards right now, but if we're going to lose companies and those numbers of apparatus, we would be below it," Schroeder said. "That's why we fought so hard to maintain our staffing through July, at least. We already are thin."

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.