By Josh Lipka
On the night of April 5, the Louisville Metro Fire Department responded to a distress call made due to an explosion in the new offices of Cardinal Towne apartments.
Greg Frederick, the fire chief of the LMFD, said that there were no casualties to civilians, workers, or any of the 34 firefighters who responded to the emergency at the office building, located at 1806 south Third Street.
“Some [construction workers] were working on the three story apartment building working on the fire escape in the rear with a cutting torch,” said Frederick. “What we think possibly happened was the torch ignited. Some part of the roof structure on the second floor extended in the attic area on the second floor got into the wall up on the third floor. That’s what started the fire, we believe.”
The firefighters entered the building when an explosion simultaneously erupted on the second floor, blowing some windows 30-feet away from the building and spreading glass along the curb and onto Third Street.
With an investigation in progress as to why the explosion occurred, the workers of the Cardinal Towne development are already working on clean up. Many workers on-site at the time were the first to respond to the fire.
Bryan Schadler, a contractor for the apartment development, said he was pleased with the actions of his fellow workers and the immediate response of LMFD.
“First thing the crew did was get the RA and everyone out of the building immediately,” Schadler said. “Then they vacated all the tools they had. Within 3-minutes’ time, the fire department was here.”
One of those fellow workers was Chad Clinton. Clinton said he was among the first to encourage evacuation.
“I got everyone out of the building and called 911,” Clinton said. “We literally just installed the last door. It could have been a lot worse. The fire department was amazing. God bless them.”
According to Schadler, the delay the fire caused in construction on the Cardinal Towne apartment complex will be brief.
“We’ve immediately started working on it,” said Schadler. “We’ll get it back in no time. Give us a month and a half. It will look like nothing happened.”
