Fire damages Horizons West unit

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
This apartment in the Horizons West residential complex, located across North College Drive from Northwest Missouri State University, was damaged by fire early Friday. Authorities said a woman living in a unit above the apartment smelled smoke and called firefighters to the scene. Fire Capt. Phil Rickabaugh said a smoke alarm in the damaged apartment was not functional.

Maryville firefighters responded to an apartment fire early Friday at 1121 N. College Drive, the address of Horizons West, a 100-plus-unit residential complex located across the street to the east from the Northwest Missouri State University campus.

Two pumper trucks and a ladder truck were dispatched to the southeasternmost building of the U-shaped complex just before 3 a.m. Firefighters entered the three-level structure and located the blaze in apartment No. 86, located at the top of a short flight of stairs.

Maryville Public Safety fire division Capt. Phil Rickabaugh said the fire apparently originated in the unit’s small kitchen, probably in a plastic trash container.

Rickabaugh and Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood said the blaze was largely contained when firefighters arrived thanks to the quick thinking of a resident in a neighboring apartment who smelled smoke and attacked the flames with a dry-chemical fire extinguisher mounted in the corridor.

The building, which is signed as containing 18 units, was evacuated without incident shortly after firefighters arrived on the scene.

Most of the damage was caused by smoke, said Rickabaugh, who added that the apartment appeared salvageable but unfit for habitation until repairs are made.

Horizons West serves almost exclusively as a residence for international university students, mostly from India and other South Asian countries.

Rickabaugh said the alarm was called in by a college-age woman living in the apartment on the floor above the unit where the fire ignited. He said the damaged apartment was equipped with a smoke alarm, but that the device was not functional.

There were no injuries, but at least two people, including the woman who alerted firefighters, were examined by first-responders for possible smoke inhalation. Neither required further treatment, Rickabaugh said.

Rickabaugh said Horizons West is owned by Bryan Belcher of Des Moines, Iowa, and that Belcher had been notified about the fire by authorities.

Though he declined to list specifics, Wood said Public Safety has been “working with the owner on a variety of different fronts” with regard to the apartment complex, adding that Friday’s episode could easily have been much more serious.

“If it hadn’t been for the young man using the fire extinguisher and dousing (the fire) when he did, I’m not sure what we would be looking at this morning,” Wood said.

He added that Maryville’s largely volunteer fire division did a “commendable job” both in terms of its quick response and rapid evacuation of the building.

Rickabaugh said about 20 firefighters responded to the call, and that crews were on the scene about two hours.

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Firefighters responded to the Horizons West apartment complex shortly before 3 a.m. Friday to find that a small blaze in a kitchen had been largely contained by a fire extinguisher-wielding resident. Damage was limited, and there were no injuries, but a couple of people were checked out by first-responders for possible smoke inhalation.