Nearly 150 residents in an East Price Hill high-rise apartment were forced to evacuate after a basement fire spread throughout the building early Wednesday morning.It happened at the Queen’s Tower Apartments on Matson Place, near Olden View Park, in East Price Hill.Cincinnati Fire Chief Frank McKinley says no one has been injured or displaced.Considering how massive the fire response was, the heavy smoke in the building and the number of people who live at the complex, Wednesday’s outcome could have been very different.Crews rushed to the scene in about three minutes. When they arrived, there was smoke throughout the apartment complex.The response was quickly upgraded to a second-alarm fire, with 80 firefighters on scene to help. Nearly 150 residents were evacuated from their apartments.”We try to find a fire alarm panel which dictates which floor the fire might be on. So what we quickly did was we were able to get individuals to different floors to report back smoke conditions. And so as we were determining smoke conditions on different levels, that really dictated how we were evacuating,” Chief McKinley explained.The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Chief McKinley says they believe the fire started in the basement, in a storage room.
Nearly 150 residents in an East Price Hill high-rise apartment were forced to evacuate after a basement fire spread throughout the building early Wednesday morning.
It happened at the Queen’s Tower Apartments on Matson Place, near Olden View Park, in East Price Hill.
Cincinnati Fire Chief Frank McKinley says no one has been injured or displaced.
Considering how massive the fire response was, the heavy smoke in the building and the number of people who live at the complex, Wednesday’s outcome could have been very different.
Crews rushed to the scene in about three minutes. When they arrived, there was smoke throughout the apartment complex.
The response was quickly upgraded to a second-alarm fire, with 80 firefighters on scene to help.
Nearly 150 residents were evacuated from their apartments.
“We try to find a fire alarm panel which dictates which floor the fire might be on. So what we quickly did was we were able to get individuals to different floors to report back smoke conditions. And so as we were determining smoke conditions on different levels, that really dictated how we were evacuating,” Chief McKinley explained.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Chief McKinley says they believe the fire started in the basement, in a storage room.
