Two injured in small fire
Two residents of the Washington Arbors apartment building were taken to Washington Hospital after a small fire was set early Thursday inside a seventh-floor unit, and a resident could face charges.
Washington Fire Department Capt. Jerry Coleman said firefighters were called to the building at 154 N. College St. at 4:09 a.m. after receiving a fire alarm. They found a small fire just inside one of the seventh-floor apartments that appeared to involve a towel or other small linen.
The state police fire marshal investigated Thursday and determined a towel was set on fire near the door in the apartment of an elderly woman. The fire spread to the wall, carpet and door. The fire marshal will turn his finding over to city police and charges are expected to be filed against the woman, police said.
“It was a very small fire,” Coleman said. “We were able to get her out of the apartment.” Coleman said the fire was put out in less than five minutes. The residents of the apartment complex were evacuated, most of them for just a short time. Most were able to return within a few minutes of the department’s arrival. Coleman said the fire doors on the seventh floor did their job containing the smoke. Residents of the immediate vicinity of the fire returned within an hour after the smoke was cleared.
The woman who lives in the apartment and another seventh-floor resident who suffers from asthma were taken to the hospital as a precaution, Coleman said. The family of the woman who lived in the apartment also was notifed, he added.
This is the second fire in the nine-story apartment building in just more than a year. James W. Springer, 66, died in a Dec. 19, 2014, fire that started in his fifth-floor apartment. Fire Chief Linn Brookman said at the time that the fire had likely been burning for some time before the smoke spilled from Springer’s apartment into the hall, triggering the alarm. Many residents on the upper floors had to be carried out on the backs of their rescuers. Some residents were displaced from their apartments for several weeks while work was done to repair the smoke and water damage.
Washington police and Ambulance and Chair crews assisted at the scene of Thursday’s fire.