News Photo by Crystal Nelson A home on LaForest Avenue was boarded up following a fire on Saturday, where an 84-year-old Alpena man died and a police officer was injured.

ALPENA — An 84-year-old Alpena man died and a police officer was injured at a house fire Saturday at LaForest Avenue.

William Smith, along with his 76-year-old wife, Mary, were still in the home when firefighters arrived at 11:18 a.m. Saturday, Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush said. He said Officer Lincoln Suszek, with the Alpena Police Department, and an off-duty Fire Capt. Andy Marceau arrived first and initially tried to rescue the couple, but were pushed back by the heavy smoke and fire.

“When our on-duty forces arrived, they were able to make entry through the rear and get the first victim out,” Forbush said, referring to Mary. “That victim was immediately treated and transported by ambulance to the hospital.”

Forbush said Mary was seriously injured and was transported to MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena. She was later flown to the University of Michigan Trauma-Burn unit where she is undergoing care for her injuries.

William was removed from the residence by firefighter-paramedics but died at the scene. Forbush said William had fallen against a door and firefighters were unable to rescue him at that time. He said firefighters had to find an alternate way to get to him. He said William had inhaled smoke, was burned and, unfortunately, did not survive.

“Our condolences to the family,” he said. “We feel terrible when we are unable to rescue someone. That’s awful when that happens. I think we did all the right things but we just weren’t able to effect that second rescue in time.”

Forbush said Suszek was injured while attempting to rescue the couple. Suszek was taken to the hospital because of smoke inhalation and a wrist injury. He was treated for injuries and released from the hospital.

Forbush said the key factors in the fire, was William appeared to have been smoking while on oxygen. He said oxygen “really intensifies the fire” and causes serious injuries.

“We don’t know for a fact that that was happening, but we do know that he was smoking, there were cigarette butts all over the place, and the home oxygen burned readily,” he said. “So those were extenuating circumstances to this particular fire.”

The fire remains under investigation, although the initial investigation was completed on Saturday by Marceau and Alpena Police Department Sergeant William Gohl. Further investigation by the Michigan State Police and the Medical Examiner’s Office will add important information to the investigation.

“A final determination will be made in the coming weeks, whenever results come back,” he said.

While there was heavy fire and smoke damage, Forbush said the home was not destroyed. He said most of the damage was in the front room, where the victims were located. Firefighters cleared the scene at 2:43 p.m.

“The home did not have any working smoke detectors, and that’s really troubling. However, in this particular fire, since both occupants were awake and alert, that wasn’t a factor,” he said. “But it certainly is in most fires, and we certainly want to emphasize to the citizens that they need to have working smoke detectors.”

The Alpena Fire Department was assisted by the city police, Alpena Township firefighters, and the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Forbush said there will be a critical incident stress debriefing program at the city fire department Monday night for all the responders involved. The training is important for the emotional and mental health of those who responded to the fire.

“Many times, the inability to rescue that second victim successfully really causes some issues for both police and firefighters, so we’re trying to be proactive in addressing that as rapidly as we can,” he said.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Officer Lincoln Suszek works for the Alpena Police Department. The officer’s employer was inaccurate in an earlier version of this story.