Resident may have sparked apartment fire by singeing his squirrel

Holland Township firefighters battle a blaze at the Clearview Apartment complex Wednesday afternoon in Holland, Mich. Fire Chief Jim Kohsel says a person using a propane torch in preparing to eat a squirrel may have sparked the fire.

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The Associated Press

Holland Township firefighters battle a blaze at the Clearview Apartment complex Wednesday afternoon in Holland, Mich. Fire Chief Jim Kohsel says a person using a propane torch in preparing to eat a squirrel may have sparked the fire.

By The Associated Press
Thursday, October 11, 2012

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Authorities say a blaze that displaced dozens of people from a southwest Michigan apartment complex may have been sparked by a resident trying to cook a squirrel with a propane torch.

Fire Chief Jim Kohsel tells MLive.com that the resident apparently planned to eat the animal and was burning off its fur on a third-floor deck at the building in Ottawa County’s Holland Township when the fire broke out Wednesday. Flames spread to the roof. Kohsel says eight apartments are destroyed and others damaged.

The resident’s name wasn’t immediately released.

Kohsel says a firefighter broke a toe. No residents were injured.

Resident Tiffany Camburn told The Holland Sentinel that she and her neighbors had to evacuate their apartments.

The American Red Cross arranged temporary shelter and clothing for displaced residents.