Family displaced by apartment fire Sunday night

An apartment fire forced a Kennewick family from their home late Sunday night.

Crews with the Kennewick and Richland fire departments responded to several reports of a deck fire on a second floor unit at the On The Boulevard apartments on Gage Boulevard just after 10:00pm.

Captain Brian Ellis with the Kennewick Fire Department says there were five people in the affected unit of building N when the fire started, and the two adults and three children escaped without injuries.

The fire appears to have started on the deck, and with windy conditions, it quickly spread to the main building. The apartment unit had working smoke detectors, which alerted the family to the fire.

"The fire was being fed by that wind," Ellis said. "This is one of those situations where the apartment buildings are close together so there are exposures that we have to address immediately."

Building O right next to the affected building suffered some heat damage to the vinyl siding. The apartment unit under the impacted unit also suffered some water damage.

Residents of eight units were displaced temporarily because power to the building had to be shut off.

There were no reports of any injuries to residents or firefighters.

Investigators say the fire was likely caused by improperly disposed smoking materials that may have ignited cardboard that was stored on the deck.