Fire at nine-story apartment building near downtown Boise sends one to hospital
An elderly woman is in the hospital after a fire at a Boise apartment building Monday morning, the Boise Fire Department and her caregiver said.
At 6:07 a.m., firefighters responded to a blaze that started on the third floor of a nine-story building on East Bannock Street near downtown Boise, according to a tweet from the fire department. The fire department did not identify the exact address, but the Bannock Arms Apartments, at 330 E. Bannock St., is the only nine-story building on that street. It houses low-income seniors.
Fatuma Macheremo told the Idaho Statesman that she’s the caregiver for the woman who was hospitalized, who is in her 70s or 80s and lives alone. When Macheremo showed up to work, the building manager told her what had happened, she said.
Gary Huck, 77, a resident of that building, told the Statesman that a fire alarm went off at around 6 a.m. “I was in the tub soaking my bones,” he said. The manager later told him someone was smoking on a couch and ignited it, he said.
A Boise Fire Department investigator determined that the fire started when a resident lit a cigarette near an oxygen tank, according to a news release. The fire was contained to one unit and smoke damage occurred only on the third floor. The woman who went to the hospital had minor injuries, the release said.
Some residents, like fifth-floor tenant Clara Spencer, 84, said they were told to stay in their rooms by firefighters.
Others, like Lois Carter, 80, who lives on the third floor, were evacuated. She told the Statesman that firefighters forced open her door and most of the other doors on the third floor. She woke up to a firefighter in a mask standing over her bed, she said. Firefighters helped her walk downstairs.
A man who said he was the building manager declined to comment or identify himself.
There was almost no damage on the building’s exterior, except for some light soot above a couple of open windows on the third floor.
By 7:09 a.m., firefighters had extinguished the fire, the department said, but continued to work removing smoke from the hallways. Firefighters were gone by 10:25 a.m., except for a crew that said they were trying to salvage personal property.
The department said it shut down Broadway Avenue between East Idaho and East Jefferson streets during the fire. By 9 a.m., the street had reopened.
This story was originally published July 17, 2023 at 9:50 AM.
