Two people were displaced after a fire at an apartment complex in Vancouver’s Harney Heights neighborhood early this morning.
Crews with the Vancouver Fire Department were called to an apartment complex at Old Orchards Apartments, 3202 E. Mill Plain Blvd. at about 1:30 a.m. today.
Arriving crews discovered an exterior fire that originated on the balcony patio of a second-story unit, firefighter-paramedic Raymond Egan said.
One engine couldn’t navigate the narrow, steep driveway so stayed on Mill Plain Bouelvard, though other apparatuses got close enough to the complex and firefighters pulled a line inside and controlled the blaze in about 10 minutes, Egan said.
Firefighters then pulled walls and ceiling to get out the hot spots, exposing the residents to the cold and displacing them, Egan said.
Fire investigators say the blaze was caused by cigarettes discarded in a trash bag on the balcony and was accidental in nature, Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli said. It caused an estimated $40,000 in damage.
“These types of preventative improper discarded cigarette fires place everyone at risk within the entire apartment complex,” Scarpelli said. “For fire and life safety, all smoking debris shall be placed in a noncombustible containers.”