Cedar Rapids Weather
Residents Evacuated After Fire at Shadowood ApartmentsBy Sam Lane, Reporter
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- More than 20 residents were evacuated and five were displaced from a northwest Cedar Rapids apartment complex Friday after a fire filled a portion of the building with smoke.
Firefighters responded to Shadowood Apartments, 2040 Edgewood Road NW shortly before 5 p.m. Friday and noticed the smell of smoke and smoke-stained windows on a second-floor apartment. A tenant in the apartment had reported intense heat in one of the hallways and heard a smoke alarm sounding. Crews discovered the door to Apartment 13 was hot to the touch and made forcible entry into the unit, according to a news release. Firefighters found heavy smoke and moderate heat in that apartment, but did not find any active flames. A small table, couch, love seat, and mattress were among the items in the apartment that sustained fire damage. The walls and ceiling in the apartment were blackened from the smoke, but the fire appeared to burn itself out by consuming the oxygen in the apartment, the release said. A woman in her 20s rents the apartment and lives there with her child, but neither were home, officials said. Around 24 residents from the rest of the building's apartments were evacuated, but no tenants or firefighters were injured in the fire. In addition to the unit in which the fire started, three adjacent apartments sustained either smoke or water damage. The three residents in those apartments were also displaced. The American Red Cross will likely assist the occupants of the apartment in which the fire started. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Witnesses sitting across the street from Shadowood said some dark smoke came from building's roof. A man who lives in the building said he was in his apartment watching a movie when he heard the smoke alarm in the hallway. He opened his door to find the hallway filled with smoke and a strong smokey smell. Other than the five displaced residents, the building's tenants began returning to their homes within an hour of crews' arrival. Most Popular |
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