Fire Damages East Wenatchee Apartment Unit

Fire damaged an apartment unit in East Wenatchee late Wednesday morning.

Crews from Chelan County Fire District No. 1 and Douglas County Fire District No. 2 responded to the 800 block of North Baker Avenue just before noon.

Chelan 1 deputy chief, Andy Davidson, says firefighters were able to knock the fire down within about five minutes.

“It was dispatched as a commercial structure fire, as it always is for an apartment complex. The first unit arrived and noted that they had a single-unit fire. They asked for additional resources then rapidly extended a line, extinguished the fire and searched the structure – determining it to be empty.”

There were four children, age 12 and under, in the unit when the fire broke out. All of them managed to get out safely and there were no injuries reported.

Spokesperson Kay McKellar says the fire ignited when a lit candle made contact with a window curtain.

McKellar adds that roughly a half-dozen residents of the complex with fire extinguishers assisted in halting the spread of the flames prior to crews arriving on scene.

The apartment unit’s interior sustained heavy damage from flames and smoke.

Davidson says its occupants might be briefly displaced but the dwelling has been deemed as inhabitable.

“Typically the units are not inhabitable until they’re cleaned, but there’s no structural damage to the building.”

The American Red Cross is assisting the apartment’s residents.