Fire closes building at south Wichita apartment complex

Residents of an entire building at Southlake Village Apartments were spending the night elsewhere after a balcony fire spread to two units Tuesday night, officials said.

The fire was reported shortly before 6:15 p.m. at the apartment complex at 4141 S. Seneca, Wichita Fire Chief Tammy Snow said. Fire crews found flames on the balcony of a second-floor apartment, which were spreading up the wall to the third floor.

All of the occupants of Building 3 had evacuated by the time crews arrived, Snow said. A second alarm was issued so that the fire could be battled on multiple fronts: one on the exterior to keep it from spreading elsewhere and crews fighting fires on both the second and third floor that had spread to the interior.

“Excessive storage” hampered efforts to extinguish the fire, according to reports posted on social media. Crews had extinguished the fire and were monitoring hotspots within an hour of the initial report.

One person sustained possible smoke inhalation and was being treated at the apartment complex office, Snow said.

Though fire damage was restricted to two apartments, power was cut to the entire building as a precaution. The management company was looking to relocate the affected residents to vacant apartments elsewhere in the complex, Snow said.

Later on Tuesday evening, the Red Cross was notified to provide assistance to seven residents.

The cause of the fire and a damage estimate have not been released.

This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Fire closes building at south Wichita apartment complex."