SPOKANE, Wash. -- Several people were injured in a fire at the Lilac Plaza Retirement Community in North Spokane early Monday morning, according to the Spokane Fire Department.
The fire was extinguished and contained by 5:00 a.m. SFD units remained on scene until 9:00 a.m.
SFD Chief Brian Schaeffer said the fire started in an air conditioning unit on the 14th floor of the building. the 14th story is home to dozens of people, many of whom are elderly and have health issues.
"It adds a whole different level of complexity than a simple house fire or apartment fire high rise fires are a unique challenge," Schaeffer said.
Firefighters went floor to floor looking for people. The ones who could not walk out on their own had to be carried out before they breathed in too much smoke.
"That's a significant challenge to go to the hallways search for viable victims, shelter in place who we could, but then rescue those that were already in the smoke and had to be evacuated," Schaeffer said.
SFD officials said the fire was discovered in the elevator head house. The building's fresh air intake for the HVAC units was located close to the fire's area of origin.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for the SFD was on scene and determined the cause of the fire to be electrical issues within HCAV equipment located in the elevator head house, officials said.
Schaeffer said 187 people live in the building. Firefighters carried several residents down stairwells and were able to have other residents shelter in place. Evacuated residents are being held on three Spokane Transit Authority busses until they are allowed back inside the building.
Crews are going floor by floor to remove smoke and will allow residents back into the building when it is safe.
Schaeffer said several of the residents suffer from heart disease, COPD and breathing problems.
Officials said the incident ultimately required more than 70 firefighters, fire command staff and AMR ambulance personnel to effectively extinguish the fire, rescue and care for residents affected by smoky conditions.
An intimate knowledge of the high-risk facility by first arriving fire crews and continued training at high-rise structures significantly aided in the successful fire extinguishment, rescue and evacuation of the facility, officials said.
Residents told KREM 2 it smelled like "burning wires" when the fire broke out this morning.