Fire ravages Fairlawn Green Apartments on Monday in southwest Topeka

Shane Williams, who lives in the Fairlawn Green Apartments complex in southwest Topeka, woke early Monday when his electricity began to falter.

This was no ordinary power outage, as Williams was soon to find out. This was the beginnings of a major fire at his building, which housed dual addresses of 5215 and 5217 S.W. 20th Terrace.

The fire was reported at 5:33 a.m., and by the time the damage was done, the blaze destroyed the two-story structure where Williams lived.

"I woke up to the electricity flickering off and on," said Williams, 53, as he stood in a parking lot near his building, from which smoke continued to billow. "I came outside to find the building engulfed."

Despite having been the victim of a fire, Williams seemed remarkably composed. He said his unit, on the northeast corner of the building, was among the least damaged in the building. Still, he wasn't sure if he would be able to retrieve any of his belongings. And even if he could, they likely would be smoke- and water-damaged.

Investigators from both the Topeka Fire Department and Kansas State Fire Marshal's Office were on the scene and hadn't determined the official cause of the fire as of Monday afternoon.

But based on what he was hearing, and on earlier reports from fire officials, it appeared the blaze started in the lower level of the building.

Officials on the scene said first-arriving crews found smoke coming from 5217 S.W. 20th Terrace -- at the west end of the building -- and fire coming from the basement of 5215 S.W. 20th Terrace -- on the east side of the building. A news release from the department said the fire started in a storage room in the southeast corner of the basement of the 5215 S.W. 20th Terrace building.

Fire crews made an interior search of the burning structure and found that all the residents had made it out of the building.

Displaced residents gathered outside the building as firefighters worked to get the blaze under control.

One firefighter received minor burns, but wasn't transported to the hospital.

Two residents were reported to have suffered smoke inhalation and were treated at the scene by American Medical Response ambulance. Neither was transported to the hospital by ambulance.

Williams, who has lived at Fairlawn Green for six years, said the building that burned had 22 units, though several apartments were unoccupied at present.

"There's relatively few people living in this building," Williams said. "They're going through a remodel, so they haven't been filling up the apartments when people leave."

He estimated no more than half of the building's units were occupied as of Monday.

Williams commended the Topeka Fire Department for its response: "They were very efficient in making sure everybody was out."

It wasn't immediately known how many of the residents had renter's insurance.

"For us, we have family that lives in town," Williams said, "so we'll be OK."

Representatives of the Kansas Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross had arrived on the scene by 7:45 a.m. and were talking with residents of the building to assess their post-fire related needs.

About 8 a.m., residents were meeting with apartment management in the main office at the complex.

Most of those who were evacuated from the building got out only with the clothes on their back.

One resident, who looked on nervously from the complex parking lot as she smoked a cigarette, was distraught at the thought she might have lost her cat in the blaze.

The woman said she was too upset to talk about the fire at that point.

Until about 7 a.m., heavy smoke and a few light flames could be seen coming from the roof of the building.

But as crews were venting the roof about 7:30 a.m., large flames and thick black smoke began rolling out of the center portion of the roof.

Soon, fire department supervisors were calling on all crew members to get out of the building, as it became evident the roof likely would give way.

At that point, fire crews battled the fire from a defensive position, attacking it from outside the building.

An aerial apparatus was extended to give fire crews a better vantage point from which to spray water onto the burning structure.

By about 7:45 a.m., most of the large flames and heavy smoke had been brought under control.

However, crews continued to battle hot spots as of 10:30 a.m.

Chuck Palmer, a 14-year resident of Fairlawn Green who was a firefighter in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, lives in the building immediately north of the one that caught fire Monday morning.

He said Topeka firefighters did an excellent job of "containing" the blaze when it easily could have spread to his building.

"They washed down my building," said Palmer, 67. "They kept it nice and cool so the fire wouldn't jump over to the next building, where I live."

Fire suppression crews confined the damage to 5215 and 5217 S.W. 20th Terrace, the department said.

Though the fire occurred shortly before dawn, conditions outdoors were already warm and muggy. Add to that the extreme heat of the fire, and the temperature near the building easily soared into triple digits.

Topeka Fire Marshal Mike Martin said crews were rotated during the several hours they were on the scene, to help prevent them from suffering heat exhaustion.

Though fire officials on the scene stopped short of saying so, it appeared the building that burned and its contents would be declared a total loss.

The exact cause of the fire and an estimated dollar loss weren't available as of Monday evening.

Fairlawn Green Apartments is a complex located a block north of S.W. 21st and Fairlawn. The apartments are immediately south of Topeka West High School.

The complex is comprised of seven buildings -- four "double" buildings and three "single" units.

Credit: Phil Anderson [email protected]