KDPS Responds to Working Structure Fire, Rescues Mother and Infant

Published on May 19, 2026

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety crews responded to a working structure fire at approximately 4:16 p.m. Friday, May 15, at a two-story residence divided into three living units in the 1200 block of Washington Avenue.

Dispatchers were advised that a porch was on fire and that a woman and her infant were trapped inside the second-floor unit.

First-arriving units observed a fully involved second-story porch fire on the right side of the residence. While assessing the structure, personnel located the caller leaning out of a second-floor window on the left side of the home holding her baby as smoke pushed from the upper portion of the window above them.

PSO Arnett reached the window and safely caught the infant after the mother dropped the child down to rescuers below. The baby was immediately handed to a nearby equipment operator. A ground ladder was then deployed to the window, allowing the mother to safely climb down moments later.

Both the mother and infant were transported to a nearby local area hospital for precautionary evaluation. Neither sustained injuries.

Occupants from the two lower-level units self-evacuated safely and were not injured.

Firefighters began attacking the fire shortly after arriving on scene. Because the interior staircase had been damaged by the fire, crews used ground ladders to reach the second-floor porch and enter the apartment safely. Most of the fire was located on the exterior right side of the home, but flames had also spread into the attic.

As crews worked to fully extinguish the fire, firefighters removed parts of the roof edge and exterior siding on the right side of the home to reach flames hidden inside the attic. Additional crews entered the residence and removed sections of the ceiling to locate and extinguish remaining hot spots.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

By authority of: Master PIO Zach Hamelton