A quick response by Columbus firefighters prevented significant fire damage in an apartment complex following a Sunday evening kitchen fire. Occupants of the apartment complex evacuated the building without injury.
At 6:36 p.m. Sunday, Columbus firefighters responded to Steinhurst Manor Apartments, 37 Salzburg Boulevard, for a residential fire. The tenant called 9-1-1 to advise dispatchers that smoke alarms within her apartment were sounding and a fire was in the apartment’s kitchen, said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesman.
Firefighters arrived on the scene within 3 minutes of the initial dispatch and reported no fire visible from the exterior of the two-story apartment complex. Crews went to a second-story apartment where they located heavy smoke conditions. After entering the apartment, firefighters located a fire in the kitchen and quickly extinguished the flames with a pressurized water-can fire extinguisher.
Columbus Fire Department Investigators spoke with the apartment’s tenant, who stated that she was alerted of the fire by a working smoke alarm in the apartment. The tenant said she had recently prepared a meal in the kitchen and was eating the meal in a bedroom when she heard a smoke alarm sounding, Wilson said. The tenant found a fire on the stove top that was spreading to kitchen cabinets located above the stove, called 9-1-1 and left the apartment.
When firefighters entered the apartment, they found the kitchen cabinets on fire and a melted plastic trash can on the floor. Using a pressurized water-can fire extinguisher, firefighters were successful in extinguishing the flames before the fire could extend into the apartment’s building construction or other uninvolved rooms. Investigators learned that the plastic trash can was placed on top of the countertop while the tenant was sweeping the kitchen floor following the preparation of the meal. Investigators determined that the plastic trash can made contact with a hot burner which led to the fire. The fire caused approximately $6,500 in damage. Investigators have listed the cause of the fire as accidental.
Damage caused by the fire was isolated to the apartment’s kitchen. Smoke damage was visible throughout the apartment. The occupants, an adult male and an female, will be temporarily displaced and advised investigators that they would be staying with family. Agencies that assisted at the scene include the Columbus Police Department and Columbus Regional Health Emergency Medical Services.
