Mom, two kids and Macomb sheriff's deputy hospitalized after New Haven apartment fire

NEW HAVEN, Mich. - A mom and her two children were taken to the hospital after an apartment caught fire Thursday morning.

Around 5:50 a.m., a Macomb County deputy was patrolling the Pinewood Apartment complex in New Haven when he spotted heavy smoke billowing out of one of the units. 

As neighboring units were cleared, sheriff deputies entered the burning apartment. After first clearing out apartments on the first floor, they attempted to get onto the second floor but were unable.

Using a maintenance ladder, another deputy climbed onto the roof to break a window that gave access to the second floor. Inside the unit, a 33-year-old woman and her two kids, ages 13 and 2, were sleeping upstairs.

"Just seeing smoke from that house to my house was devastating," said Tyler Jaynes, who lives two doors down from the unit that caught fire.

At that point, the New Haven Fire Department arrived at the scene, which is located at 30100 John Rivers Dr., and two firemen worked to rescue the mother and her kids. All three exited through the second-floor window and were taken to a hospital for severe smoke inhalation. A 22-year-old veteran of the Macomb County Sheriff's department was also hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

On the first floor of the apartment, officers found a father and his three children who were escorted out before police gained access to the second floor. They are uninjured. 

“I am very proud of the heroic actions taken by these deputies.  They acted with swiftness and selflessness, putting the lives of the citizens they serve and protect every day before their own,” said Sheriff Anthony Wickersham in a statement.

Jaynes, who said he kept getting woken up by his smoke detector going off watched the scene unfold after leaving the apartment. He said the firefighters "hurried up there like it was nobody's business" after arriving on the scene. 

"Seeing those kids and that mother, it was so devastating, it broke my heart," he said.

Fire investigators are now inspecting the cause of the incident now that the blaze has been put out. Neighboring apartments also remain evacuated due to smoke damage.