Brunswick Fire Leaves 4-Year-Old Girl Dead

BRUNSWICK, OH — A 4-year-old girl has died and six others have been sent to area hospitals after an overnight fire at the Hickory Hill Apartments in Brunswick Monday.

The fire — which completely destroyed 12 apartment units and forced the residents of 12 other units to evacuate — broke out at 10:30, fire officials said in a press release. The fire has displaced the residents of all 24 units.

The fire started with a spark outside the apartment where the 4-year-old girl lived. Assistant Fire Chief Rick Barber said in a video of a press conference obtained by cleveland.com. Barber said the building's vinyl siding acted as an accelerant for the fire and that there was no sprinkler system in place. The building had working smoke detectors and passed an annual fire inspection in June.

Responders from 10 area fire and EMS departments succeeded in bringing the fire under control by midnight, but remained on the scene into Tuesday morning. One firefighter was treated for minor injuries and released, according to the press release.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but do no believe it was arson. The dollar cost of the fire damage is also unknown at this time.