MOUNT VERNON — Firefighters were forced to break down the door of an apartment in the three-story Terrace apartment building Monday evening around 6:30, when smoke from the apartment escaped into the basement and neighboring units.
“We had to gain access,” Lt. Chad Christopher of the Mount Vernon Fire Department explained after firefighters had to help an undressed, semiconscious man from the apartment at 105 S. Gay St.
Richard Wolff, who neighbors said has lived at The Terrace for only a few months, did not respond coherently to questions.
“He was obviously intoxicated,” Christopher said.
According to fire officials, food cooking in an oven in Wolff’s first-floor apartment had burned for hours. Firefighters removed the stove from the apartment while they opened windows and used large fans to blow smoke from the building.
David Lober, a resident in the building, said he noticed the smoke and alerted his neighbor, David Scarbrough, who sometimes looks after the building for owner Bob Hatfield.
“I saw a haze, and thought it smelled like rotten eggs,” Lober said.
Scarbrough alerted other neighbors on the second floor and called the fire department.
“I went to the basement, and it seemed worse down there,” he said.
The MVFD responded with two engines and a squad. EMS Coordinator Mike Cronin also responded.
“We went all through with our CO2 detectors,” Christopher said. “We just made sure the CO2 levels are within normal range for the residents to go back in.”
Wolff was assisted to a MVPD cruiser by Officer Brian Weiser. He was later charged with disorderly conduct, persisting and a risk of harm to self while intoxicated. He was taken to the Knox County Jail.