Apartment fire in south Wichita injures firefighter, forces 42 from homes (+video)

Fire investigators are still searching for the cause of a fire that heavily damaged an apartment building in south Wichita early Sunday morning.

The two-alarm fire at 2622 S. Topeka heavily damaged six of the 24 apartments in the garden-style building, Wichita Fire Chief Brad Crisp said. The fire was reported at 4:11 a.m. Sunday and the first units on the scene near Pawnee and Broadway encountered “significant fire,” he said.

It took firefighters about an hour to put out the fire, Crisp said. Along with the units that burned, the 18 remaining units sustained smoke damage.

All 42 residents of the three-story building required assistance from the Red Cross because utilities to the building had to be turned off, he said. Damage to the building was estimated at $425,000 to the building and its contents.

While no residents were injured, Crisp said, one firefighter sustained a minor injury and was treated at a hospital and released.

“It’s going to be a while” before anyone can move back into the building, he said. “There was significant structural damage.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Apartment fire in south Wichita injures firefighter, forces 42 from homes (+video)."