Man rescued from balcony during fire

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - No one was hurt after fire damaged four buildings on Grand Rapids' northwest side Saturday, including a man who jumped from his second-story window with the help of a firefighter.

The fire broke out around 4:15 p.m. at the closed American Legion 40 ET 8 building at the corner of Seward and Douglas.

An investigator told 24 Hour News 8 this fire does not appear to be suspicious.

The investigator said one possibility is that squatters who were trying to keep warm in this abandoned American Legion building may have started the blaze, based on interviews with neighbors.

The fire started at a corner of the Legion surrounding a couch.

Neighbor Corey Waters first saw the blaze, then called 911 and alerted neighbors.

"I just got a giant rush of heat," he said. "I look over my shoulder and there's flames all over the place. I ran and just told everybody to get out."

Faustino Morales woke up in his second-story apartment. He doesn't know what woke him up; if it was from the commotion outside, his neighbors' warnings, or the smell of smoke.

He just knows the only way out he had came from his kitchen window because fire was blocking his planned way out -- down a stairwell.

"I opened the window and I jumped it," Morales told 24 Hour News 8.

He made it onto a ledge directly outside his apartment, and jumped onto a nearby garage, and was helped to safety by Grand Rapids firefighter Mark Rinkevicz -- a 21-year veteran firefighter.

"It was a good day," Rinkevicz said of the save.

Rinkevicz wanted Morales to use a ladder the firefighter brought, but understands adrenaline probably changed Morales' mind.