The fire was contained 28 minutes later. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated, but is believed to have been accidental.
Fire crews that arrived at the scene noted that flames were shooting out of the balcony attached to the affected unit and were almost touching the unit above, according to a report by the Springfield Fire Division.
The fire was contained to a unit on the sixth floor and flames did not spread to any other units in the apartment building. But, there was heavy smoke damage on the sixth and seventh floors leading to the evacuation of those residents, said Springfield Assistant Matthew Smith.
He said that two people went to the hospital related to smoke inhalation and no other injuries were reported.
Smith said that the sixth floor of the apartment building will likely not be habitable due to the smoke damage for weeks if not months. The seventh floor will also require cleanup as well.
Residents were evacuated as fire crews battled the flames. Smith said that 75% of on-duty fire fighters at the time responded to the fire. Some battled the flames while others conducted room to room and apartment to apartment searches in order to aid in the evacuation of residents on the sixth and seventh floors.
Smith could not provide the exact number of residents that have been displaced as a result of the fire. However, there were 30 units in total on those floors, but Smith said not all of them were occupied.
The fire division is working with the local Red Cross, which arrived at the scene to aid impacted residents, and the Clark County Emergency Management Agency to get the total number of residents that were temporally displaced.
Those that were living on the fifth floor and below were not impacted by the blaze or the smoke damage and were not displaced. However, those residents were evacuated during the blaze but were able to return after the fire was extinguished.
The apartment building is managed by the Springfield Metropolitan Housing Authority and temporary shelter options are being utilized with many of the displaced residents now staying in local hotel rooms provided by the Red Cross.
The Springfield Metropolitan Housing Authority did not respond to a request for comment as of Thursday afternoon.
However, the hotel lodging is only a temporary option and local authorities are looking at other types of shelter, said Smith.
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