Police found 15 Fentanyl patches in a shirt pocket and the underwear of Nichole Fritz, according to court documents.Nearly 30 people were displaced Monday afternoon after an east-side motel caught fire, according to Fort Wayne firefighters.
The fire erupted about 3 p.m. Monday at the Coliseum Inn at 1020 Coliseum Blvd. N., just south of Lake Avenue. One man was living in the second-floor room where the fire originated, but firefighters were uncertain whether he was home at the time, according to Capt. Henry Willis, a spokesman for the fire department.
All tenants at the inn escaped unharmed, he said. The fire was brought under control in about 25 minutes, Willis said.
When firefighters arrived, they found black smoke and flames coming from the back side of the building. The inn has 26 units. At least six units on the second floor sustained fire and smoke damage, Willis said. Two first-floor units sustained water damage.
Tenant Leslie Smith lives in a unit below where the blaze started. He said his cable TV went out about 15 minutes before he noticed the building was on fire.
Smith, 59, said he saw smoke outside his window.
“The flames erupted out the back side,” he said. “It went up quick.”
Willis said about 25 to 30 tenants were displaced because of the fire. American Electric Power employees restored electricity to a building of vacant units behind the inn so tenants could be moved there. The Northeast Indiana American Red Cross will assist tenants.
The building where the fire broke out was evacuated pending repairs. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Firefighters said a smoke detector in the unit where the fire started was working.
