Apartment damaged, no injuries in fire

More than 30 firefighters from four fire departments responded Thursday, Oct. 27, to an apartment fire in Edmonds.

The first fire crew to arrive shortly after 9 a.m. found the blaze was not at the address given in the 1100 block of Fifth Avenue S., but rather just to the north and accessed from a different street, according to a news release from Edmonds battalion chief Bob Schmitt.

Edmonds Engine 17 crew members found one apartment unit on the ground floor of a two story building with heavy smoke and flames coming from two bedroom windows, the release said.

The firefighters knocked down a wooden fence section to access the building and then laid hose lines to the front door of the apartment unit on fire. A second crew from Ladder 20 pulled a back up line to the front door and the engine crew went into the unit and aggressively attacked the fire, knocking it down, Schmitt said in the release.

As other crews arrived, primary and secondary searches found no occupants. Later it was discovered that the tenant was at work at the time of the fire. All other tenants had evacuated to the parking lot. Six ladder companies, two aid units, 30 firefighters, Support 7 and five officers came to the fire from Edmonds, Fire District 1, Lynnwood Fire Department, Shoreline Fire Department, and Edmonds Police.

So far, the cause is undetermined, Schmitt said.

Fire and smoke damage was mainly confined to the apartment unit involved in fire. Some minor smoke damage to the unit above the fire. Damage was estimated at $25,000 to the apartment and $15,000 to the contents.