At 11:47 p.m. Thursday the Manhattan Fire Department was dispatched to 949 Village Drive for a report of a structure fire. Upon arrival, crews found a one-story residential structure with light smoke coming from a door on the side of the structure. The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained within 40 minutes. A total of 18 firefighters responded on 6 fire apparatus.
The residence was occupied at the time of the fire. The occupants were alerted when a smoke alarm sounded and were able to exit the structure without injury prior to the fire departments arrival. The single family structure received an estimated loss of $60,000 to the structure and $20,000 to contents. The occupants of the structure are displaced at this time. The owner is listed as Marvin and Betty Hatch of Manhattan, Kansas. The fire cause was determined to accidental due to electrical wiring.
The Fire Department would like to recognize this as an example of properly installed smoke alarms alerting the occupants allowing them to exit the structure without injury. The risk of dying in a home fire is cut in half in homes with working smoke alarms. The Fire Department will be educating people on the importance of working smoke alarms during the upcoming fire prevention week October 4th through 10th. MFD invites the public to an open house on October 11th from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm at the Headquarters station at 2000 Denison Avenue. This year’s fire prevention message is “Hear the Beep where you Sleep”.
