05-08-2025
Teen recounts escaping house fire that killed Michigan woman: "It was a tough moment"
A 46-year-old mother is dead after a fire Monday morning ripped through her Brandon Township, Michigan, mobile home.
The woman's son and his two friends were also inside the home at the time of the fire, but all three of them narrowly escaped what could've been a much worse situation.
Levi Townsend was one of those friends who were inside the home and escaped the fire.
"When I was waking up this morning, I didn't even remember waking up, I just remember running out with my buddy. And then as soon as we walked out, the whole place engulfed in flame in the front," Townsend said.
Townsend was sleeping over his friend's house at a mobile home community in the Village of Clarkston when, shortly after 7 a.m., he and his friends were woken by the heat of burning walls around them.
"It was a tough moment and stuff. It was a lot, especially being 15, dealing with getting out of a house that's on fire, trying to help my friend's mom, not knowing what's going on," he said.
Townsend was with his friend Jacob and his friend Dominic, whose mother owned the mobile home and was in her bedroom when the fire began. Sadly, the mother was trapped inside and couldn't get out.
"I was behind that house trying to get his mom out, and then me and him (Dominic) ran across the street to try and regroup and talk to the fire department if they could get her out," Townsend said.
Townsend, as well as others in the community, said that it took over half an hour for the local fire department to show up. Ralanda Dugan, who sent CBS News Detroit video of the fire, said the response time is a cause of worry moving forward.
"I have one of those fire blankets that I keep in my kitchen, but now, after this today, I want to go and buy a fire extinguisher for every room," Dugan said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says that investigators are now in the process of determining the cause and origin of the fire, but that this is a reminder everyone should make sure their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in working order, and we know how to escape from any room in our house should an emergency call for it.
While Townsend said Monday was extremely difficult for him, it's his friend whom he's thinking about now.
"As soon as he found out about his mom, he started crying. He turned to me, he hugged me, I hugged him," he said.
Townsend said that Dominic, the boy who lost his mother and his home in this devastating fire, will now be moving to Pontiac, where he will live with his father. In the meantime, they have set up a GoFundMe to help rebuild his life and replace everything he lost in this sad situation.
