One of four people injured in east Wichita apartment fire dies, official says

One of the four people injured in a Friday morning apartment fire in east Wichita has died, the Wichita Fire Department said.

A 22-year-old woman died in the fire reported just after 4 a.m. at Brookhollow Apartments, 8165 E. Central. The fire department did not release her name. She was alone in the apartment where she was found.

The fire department said late Friday morning that the cause of the fire was still under investigation. At that time, battalion chief Jose Ocadiz said four people were injured: one was unresponsive, two who reportedly jumped from the third story were seriously injured and one person was critically injured.

Firefighters used a ladder and went through the apartment window to pull the unresponsive person from the flames.

The first firefighters found the flames and smoke coming from the second and third stories.

Firefighters were running a hose up to the third floor when the stairwell collapsed and they fell to the ground, Ocadiz previously said. He thought it was two to three firefighters and didn’t know how far they fell.

Without a stairwell, firefighters were forced to climb a ladder to get to the apartment windows and search inside.

“Search and rescue crews extricated two trapped occupants and several others that were ambulatory,” the fire department said on social media.

All six units in the building were uninhabitable. American Red Cross was called to assist the residents.

This story was originally published October 14, 2023 at 1:34 PM.