Firefighters work to put out a fire inside a unit at Westminster Apartments Monday afternoon in Greenwood.
Submitted photo by Andrea Brown
No one was injured during a Monday afternoon oven fire at a Greenwood apartment complex.
Firefighters were called around 1:41 p.m. Monday for a confirmed fire in an apartment along Dover Drive in Westminster Apartments. The complex is located south of County Line Road and west of U.S. 31 in Greenwood.
A 911 caller told dispatchers there was an oven on fire inside the apartment. By the time firefighters got there, the fire was out and the apartment was evacuated, said Tyler Swardson, public information officer for the Greenwood Fire Department.
At one point there was heavy smoke coming from the apartment. Firefighters were able to quickly get water on the fire and search the apartment. The fire was confirmed to be out at 2:12 p.m. after fire crews searched the unit in question, adjacent units and the attic to confirm the fire was out, Swardson said.
“As far as I’m aware at this time, there was no extension [of the fire] to any other apartment and it was contained to that apartment,” he said.
The cause of the fire is believed to be from the oven. Apartment occupants were making “some sort of sauce” before the oven caught fire, but it is not currently known how it exactly caught fire, Swardson said. The incident was still under investigation Monday afternoon.
Heading into the holiday season, there is usually a rise in cooking-related fires. Of the 360,800 residential fires every year, cooking fires account for nearly half, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
When cooking, residents should make sure to always watch their food if they have it cooking on the stove-top, in the oven, or are using a burner or slow cooker. People should not be leaving the room, or the home, to do anything else while cooking, Swardson said.
Children should also not be left unattended while cooking. This is especially true when it comes to using a gas stove, he said.
“Gas can get turned on; if they’re short, they can burn themselves and stuff like that,” he said. “A kid should always be supervised when they’re cooking.”
Homeowners should also make sure they have a fire extinguisher nearby and readily accessible when cooking, Swardson said.
Along with several companies from the Greenwood Fire Department, the White River Township Fire Department also responded to Monday’s fire.
