Accidental apartment fire forces evacuation
Two apartments have been evacuated due to more than $20,00 in fire damage.Published 9/29/2011
Comments (0)A fire started by a cigarette at about 8 p.m. Tuesday in Boulder Creek Apartments at 1915 NE Terre View Dr. caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, Fire Prevention Officer Richard Dragoo said.
According to a Pullman Fire Department press release, a visitor to the apartments called 911 at 8:13 p.m. to report a fire was burning on the third floor balcony of building F. By time the Pullman Fire Department arrived, the building had been evacuated. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in 22 minutes.
“No one was hurt,” Dragoo said. “I would suspect that people started running around, banging on the doors to get each other out.”
Dragoo said the female occupant of apartment 51F was asleep at the time of the fire. She had friends over for dinner, some of whom smoked. He said the fire started when someone put a cigarette into a flower pot on the balcony. When the occupant went to bed, she closed the balcony and the fire spread to the building’s vinyl siding.
“That stuff burns like crazy,” Dragoo said. “It moved from there into the attic. The guys had to go up and discovered some additional damage.”
Dragoo said the apartments were built before fire codes required buildings to have fire sprinklers, and the fire alarms did not sound because the flames were isolated to the outside of the building.
The fire damaged apartments 51F and 51E. The residents of the two apartments have been evacuated and will not return until the damage has been cleaned up.
“No one was hurt,” Dragoo said. “I would suspect that people started running around, banging on the doors to get each other out.”
Dragoo said the female occupant of apartment 51F was asleep at the time of the fire. She had friends over for dinner, some of whom smoked. He said the fire started when someone put a cigarette into a flower pot on the balcony. When the occupant went to bed, she closed the balcony and the fire spread to the building’s vinyl siding.
“That stuff burns like crazy,” Dragoo said. “It moved from there into the attic. The guys had to go up and discovered some additional damage.”
Dragoo said the apartments were built before fire codes required buildings to have fire sprinklers, and the fire alarms did not sound because the flames were isolated to the outside of the building.
The fire damaged apartments 51F and 51E. The residents of the two apartments have been evacuated and will not return until the damage has been cleaned up.
