WSU students escape apartment fire

An early morning fire Saturday caused an estimated $500,000 damage to a 12-unit WSU apartment complex. Fire officials credited the student residents on doing a great job of evacuating the complex and preventing injuries.

Pullman firefighters were called at 4:46 a.m. by a report of a fully-engulfed apartment fire in the Chief Joseph Village Apartment complex at 2025 NE Terre View. The first call came by cell phone from a resident. The complex alarm station was not activated until six minutes later.

As crews arrived, flames were coming from unit D-5 and firefighters and WSU Police immediately made sure that all the student residents were safely evacuated. Firefighters gave credit to the residents for alerting other occupants.

Fire investigator Rich Dragoo said residents of the D-5 unit told him that the fire started around the kitchen stove area and they said smoke detectors in the apartment did not go off. After a full day of investigation, Dragoo ruled the fire was started by accident. The building is owned by WSU, and Dragoo said the university will release the specifics of the investigation next week.

Chief Joseph apartment units were built in the early 1970s. Dragoo said the attic of the building lacks draft stop separating units. Firefighters were able to keep the major damage confined to D-5, but Dragoo estimated two apartment units were totally destroyed, three others sustained water damage, and the other six had smoke damage.

Operations Chief Mike Heston said once firefighters determined that everyone was out of the three-story complex, firefighters went into a defense maneuver to keep the fire from spreading. He said firefighters were aided by the lack of wind which allowed the flames to come right out of the roof, rather than travel down the attic area and spread to other units.

WSU Housing office made arrangements for the students from the 12-unit complex to be housed temporarily in other university facilities. The Whitman County branch of the American Red Cross and WSU Facilities Operations also responded.

Firefighters from Whitman County Rural District 12 aided the firefighting efforts. The Moscow Fire Department responded to fill the air tanks.