Three apartments sustained fire damage and at least three more had smoke or water damage after a fire Saturday afternoon north of the Central Washington University campus in Ellensburg.
The Ellensburg Police Department was first on scene to the fire at Campus Village Apartments, 925 E. 18th Ave., just after 2 p.m., EPD Sgt. Josh Bender said. When they arrived there were visible flames coming from the bottom apartment and smoke rising in a pillar above it. EPD immediately began clearing residents out of the adjoining rooms in the apartment complex.
There was no one inside the burning apartments. One cat died in the fire and another is missing.
“I’m glad this happened at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and not 2 a.m. at night ... that could have been a fatality fire,” KVFR Deputy Chief Rich Elliott said.