Provo apartment building near BYU evacuated after fire breaks out

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A large fire broke out Monday on the third floor of a multi-unit apartment building near BYU campus, causing residents to evacuate.

Captain Sam Armstrong at Provo Fire & Rescue said the cause of the fire is still under investigation by Provo’s fire marshal. Twenty people were immediately evacuated and eight to ten apartment units were displaced overnight because of the damages and smoke.

Armstrong estimated it will be months before any of those apartment units are in livable conditions. The Red Cross and Provo City coordinators worked together to offer these displaced residents optional places to stay overnight. He reported that none of the residents chose to stay at the Red Cross sites.

Provo Fire & Rescue’s first unit was at the location at 295 N. 400 West within three minutes of being dispatched and there were no longer active flames after nine minutes.

The framework of the main apartment unit was then torn apart to see if more fire had gotten into the walls, Armstrong said. The responders did find more fire in the building’s attic.

Due to many of the Provo responders handling the multi-unit apartment building fire, only one other station (Station 22) was available to respond alongside Armstrong to a second fire Monday evening in a field east of a BYU greenhouse along the road that leads to the Y Trailhead.

The second fire was located approximately at 900 N. Locust Lane. Armstrong needed to pick up a wildland fire truck from Station 25, inviting the Orem Fire Department to assist. Orem Fire brought three more wildland trucks and crew.

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