FORT SMITH (KFSM) - One person is without a home after an apartment complex caught fire early Thursday morning (Nov. 20).
The fire sparked around 2:30 a.m. at the Westark Inn Motel on Towson Avenue, after an electrical outlet shorted out in one of the apartments on the first floor, said Capt. Jim Bettis of the Fort Smith Fire Department. The fire then spread to the second floor.
The motel manager saw heavy smoke coming from the building and called 911, Bettis said. One of the people inside one of the apartments fire also called authorities.
The one person inside the apartment that caught fire was evacuated. Authorities also shut down all traffic on Towson Avenue while they battled the flames.
"After we investigated it, we found a shorted out outlet in Apartment 49 and had gone up the wall and into Apartment 38," Bettis said. "We extinguished the fire pretty quickly. There's probably $15,000 worth of damage."
The one person who was forced out of their home has been given a new room at the apartment complex to stay in for the time being.