FRANKLYWNOW - AFD, APD respond to fire at apartment complex near Spenard and T

Courtesy of Scott Smith

The apartment building the Sitka High School basketball team helped residents escape

Courtesy of Gerald Tyson

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Last updated at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23

A Wednesday morning Spenard area fire left between 18 and 25 people displaced, but by late-afternoon the cause of the blaze remained under investigation, Anchorage Fire Department fire marshal Cleo Hill said.

AFD was notified of the blaze at 10:47 a.m. at 3806 Taft Drive, near Spenard Road. First responders from Fire Station 5 were there within “seconds,” Hill explained.

The fire was initially a two-alarm fire because of the way the wind was pushing the flames. According to Hill, firefighters thought the wind would push the flames into the attack and take the roof, but because of the close proximity to the station firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it spread.

The fire was contained by 11:38 a.m., AFD wrote in a release. No one reported injuries.

Heavy damage to at least two units. Still some smoke visible; no flames. @ktva pic.twitter.com/5FcegGIznh

— Eric Ruble (@e_ruble) March 23, 2016

Fire caused significant damage to an apartment complex at Cleveland Ave. and Taft Dr. @ktva pic.twitter.com/aEUuRW3th7

— Eric Ruble (@e_ruble) March 23, 2016

Three units on one side of the building were damaged; the bottom floor unit suffered water damage while firefighters battled the blaze, and the middle unit, where the fire is believed to have imitated, as well as the top floor unit, suffered fire damage. Three units on the other half of the building were “untouched,” Hill said.

Hill added that Red Cross of Alaska is working with displaced residents.

AFD is also looking for good Samaritans who helped notify the building’s residents of the blaze. Hill said occupants of the building reported that a group of people from Sitka, as well as a man in a jeep, noticed the fire. The good Samaritans reportedly pounded on the outside door of the building, and then on each one of the units to warn them of the fire. Then they left.

“We don’t know who they are, where they came from, or where they went,” Hill said. “After they did their good deed they disappeared. We would love to say ‘thank you.’

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