The property manager at the Pembroke Apartments in High Ridge stepped up and put out a fire in a tenant’s apartment on Monday afternoon (Nov. 7). At 12:59 p.m., the High Ridge Fire Protection District got a call about the fire, which started after a tenant left a pan filled with grease on the stove, Fire Marshal Ron Tisius said.
A man, a woman and two toddlers were home when the fire started, he said.
“The female said she was preparing lunch on the stove, went into another room for a couple of minutes, and when she returned to the kitchen, flames were on the stove and the area above the stove,” Tisius said.
The couple grabbed the children, left and called 911, he said.
When firefighters arrived at 1:06 p.m., the tenants of the 12-apartment building had already safely evacuated. Firefighters, however, searched all the apartments to make sure everyone had left the building, Tisius said.
North Jefferson County Ambulance District personnel checked out the two children to make sure they weren’t suffering from smoke inhalation, he said.
When firefighters opened the door to the apartment, they found it was completely filled with smoke. The fire, however, was out. The property manager had tackled the blaze with a fire extinguisher.
Firefighters, using thermal imaging, did detect some hot areas and pulled down the ceiling in the apartment looking for fire in the ceiling and walls, Tisius said.
They also checked the adjoining apartments for fire and ventilated the couple’s apartment with an electric fan to drive out the smoke, he said.
“They monitored the air and checked neighboring units with a gas monitor to make sure there was no carbon monoxide in the air,” Tisius said.
He said the apartment had heavy smoke and fire damage around the stove.
Firefighters were on the scene for about an hour, and the Red Cross was called to assist the family, but before firefighters left, the property manager was already making arrangements to move the family to a vacant apartment in the complex, Tisius said.