One person is dead after a blazing fire engulfed a house in Medina Sunday morning, according to the Medina Fire Department.
At 5:42 a.m., Medina Fire responded to a call for a residential structure fire.
They arrived at 5:50 a.m. and were met with heavy venting from multiple windows on the second floor of a multi-family home, the department said.
Medina Fire said a lieutenant on the scene received reports of a person inside the house as he started his 360-degree scan of the scene.
He ordered the fire crew to stretch an attack line and put it into operation on the fire. They proceeded to the top floor using an open wood staircase to try and find the victim.
The responders were briefly trapped on the staircase after the bottom of the stairs had deteriorated directly below, which forced them to retreat.
Crews located and removed the victim after the stairs were cleared.
The victim was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
Medina Fire said no other occupants or responders were injured.
It is unclear how many people were in the home aside from the trapped victim.
Several Medina Police officers and Chief 1 assisted the fire department, and the fire department extended their gratitude for the additional assistance they received:
"Additional crews from Engines 1, 3, 5 and Ladder 1, along with mutual companies from Erhart Firefighter's Association / EYFD, Lafayette Township Fire Department , Seville-Guilford Fire & EMS, Granger Township Fire Department, Sharon Township Fire Department, and Medina LST worked for several hours to completely extinguish this difficult fire. A special thank you to the Medina Police Department (Ohio) for all of their assistance and for bringing their drone to provide thermal imaging to assist fire crews in locating hot spots. The American Red Cross responded and provided assistance to the residents, and the Medina County First Responder Support Team was called in to support the responders from this fire."
