Discarded cigarette cause of apartment fire near Harry and Webb (+video)

Brisk winds fanned the embers of a discarded cigarette early Thursday, igniting a fire that caused an estimated $1 million in damage to a southeast Wichita apartment building, a fire department official said.

The fire at Aragon Apartments, 8909 E. Harry, was reported at 4:19 a.m., a Sedgwick County emergency dispatcher said. That’s south of Kellogg and west of Webb Road.

Arriving crews found “very significant fire” on the second floor of the building, Wichita Battalion Chief Stuart Bevis said. Although crews en route to the fire were told people were trapped in the building, Bevis said, every occupant of the 12 units was able to evacuate safely.

The cigarette was flicked to the floor of an open-air walkway on the second floor of the apartment building, Bevis said.

“We’re not sure if it got into some debris or got into the plastic pot” on the walkway, he said.

The cigarette smoldered for an hour or two before open flames ignited, Bevis said. It took about an hour for dozens of firefighters to extinguish the three-alarm fire.

A strong response was called out “mainly because when you have an apartment fire at that time of the morning, we’re concerned about the risk to human life,” he said.

Eight of the 12 units were left uninhabitable by the fire and related damage, Bevis said. Tenants in the other four units should be able to return when electricity is restored.

One resident received treatment at the scene for what turned out to be a medical condition not related to the fire, Bevis said.

“Apartment fires are always very scary just because there’s such a huge potential for loss of life,” he said.

“It can get out of hand in a hurry, especially with the winds we were having.”

Winds were blowing steadily in the teens in southeast Wichita early Thursday, said Jaclyn Ritzman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

A discarded cigarette is being blamed for another fire early Thursday. That fire occurred just after midnight at 5580 S. Gold, Bevis said. Damage was limited to $5,000 because crews were able to get there quickly and put out the fire before it could spread.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Discarded cigarette cause of apartment fire near Harry and Webb (+video)."