Firefighters risk selves in apt blaze

COMSTOCK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - A fire destroyed the third floor of a Comstock Township apartment building Thursday morning, but firefighters who put themselves at risk helped keep the fire from becoming fatal.

About 30 units at Gull Run Apartments were gutted by flames, displacing as many as 100 people.

It took seven fire departments to put the fire out. Firefighters entered the burning building to rescue residents and douse the flames.

Capt . Dave Wuis has been with the Comstock Fire Department for 22 years. He was in the thick of the firefight on Thursday morning.

He stood inside the apartment building while it was on fire, flames only feet above his head.

--Watch above: Wuis tells 24 Hour News 8 why the fire was just another day on the job.--

Wuis said he wasn't nervous.

"We train enough. That's what it's about," he said. "You're just focused on your job -- your task that you're supposed to complete."

Wuis helped pull two people from the fire: An 82-year-old woman and a man in a wheelchair who also uses a hearing aide.

"I could've been cooked. I could've been fried in that apartment," said Brian Lucas, the man Wuis helped rescue.

Wuis said saving lives is worth risking his own.  

"I love it. It's part of the community and you're here to serve," he said.

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Donation information:

Monetary -- www.redcross.org or 1.800.RED.CROSS (733.27677)

Material donations (clothing, furniture, etc.) can be dropped off at the Kalamazoo Deacon's Conference (1010 N. Westnedge Ave. in Kalamazoo)

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State Farm Agent Jeremy Weitting is collecting donations of food, clothing and furniture for residents who did not have renter's insurance.

People from Weitting's office will pick up the donations. Call 269.692.6831 or go to his Facebook page if you would like to make a donation.