A kitchen fire damaged this apartment building at 795 Brandon Avenue in Hiawatha at 4:11pm this afternoon. (Mike Nesslage/Hiawatha Fire Chief)
An apartment in Hiawatha was damaged by a kitchen fire this afternoon, but working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers limited damage and saved lives.
Hiawatha Firefighters, who were out conducting boot block for MDA, left their post to respond to 795 Brandon Avenue, Hiawatha, at 4:11 PM this afternoon. The building is owned by Shirley Haugen, of Marion. On their arrival firefighters found thick smoke in the building, but all occupants had been evacuated from the building. The fire had been extinguished by occupants using several fire extinguishers.
The occupant of apartment 1 was sleeping on the couch when he was awoken by the smoke detector in his apartment. He found a fire on his stove and cabinets. He attempted to put out the fire using the fire extinguisher in his apartment. He was able to knock the fire down, but not extinguish the fire. A second occupant from another apartment then used his extinguisher to put most of the remaining fire out while tenants evacuated the building. There were 5 people in the building at the time of the fire. One resident was transported by Hiawatha Ambulance to St Lukes, for evaluation after being exposed to smoke while evacuating.
The cause of the fire was unattended food on the stove. Apartment 2 had significant heat and smoke damage, but the remaining units in the building had little damage. The tenant of apartment 2 is staying with friends.
Firefighters remind the public that working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are valuable tools. Fire Extinguishers should only be used after everyone has been evacuated, and to never reenter a burning building. At least 79 lives in Iowa have been saved this year by working smoke detectors. In this case, the working smoke detectors and quick appropriate action of the tenants saved lives and property.
