HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In a follow-up to a story we brought you yesterday, arson is now suspected in an apartment fire in Hutchinson Monday afternoon. Fire crews responded to the 100 block of West 10th about 3:25 p.m.
When crews arrived, they found flames and smoke coming from a single-story apartment complex, Hutchinson Battalion Chief William Lang said the fire was controlled in 15 minutes, while units were on scene for two hours. The preliminary damage estimate is $10,000, sustained to the main room of the residence.
Police say that, at around 3:10 p.m., they were dispatched to the area of 1300 N. Plum in reference to a possible suicidal person in the area on foot. Officers then learned that the female may reside in an apartment complex in the 100 block of West 10th.
Units responded to that area to try and make contact with her. The first officer on scene knocked at the front door of her apartment and received no answer. Knowing that the female occupant had been contacted on prior dates, the officer then walked to the back of the complex to knock on a back door. Receiving no answer at the back either, he returned to the front and discovered the entire front door and entryway fully engulfed in flames.
The officer immediately asked for additional officers and fire units to be dispatched as he began attempting to gain entry into the apartment. As other officers began arriving on the scene, they heard a person inside the rear of the apartment coughing. The officers forced entry at the back of the apartment and physically removed a female from the apartment, which was now filled with smoke and flames. They then began evacuating the rest of the complex as the first fire units began arriving. In all, three residents were removed from the apartment complex by officers at the scene, two of which had been asleep.
Lang said the cause of the fire appears to be arson, but is still under investigation.