Water damage after small fire in downtown Oshkosh apartment building damages 10 units, displaces over a dozen people, the Red Cross says
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OSHKOSH – Water damage triggered by a small fire at a downtown apartment building displaced more than a dozen people Thursday night.
Just before 10 p.m., the Oshkosh Fire Department received a call to Court Tower, a 14-story building at 100 Court St. near North Main Street and the Fox River, according to John Holland, the department's public information officer.
A small stove fire on the ninth floor started, triggering the building's sprinkler system on two floors. The sprinklers worked as intended, putting out the fire before first responders arrived, Holland said, but the water caused "most of the chaos" that night.
While first responders assessed the building, more than one hundred of the apartment's residents evacuated to a Red Cross emergency shelter at Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church, said Justin Kern, communications director for the Red Cross of Wisconsin.
Most residents were able to return home by around 2:30 a.m. The water damage from the sprinkler system affected about 10 units in the building, leaving 14 people displaced, Kern said. The Red Cross is assisting the residents with emergency aid.
No first responders or civilians were injured in the fire, Holland said, but there is no known timeframe for when the displaced residents can return to their homes.
Contact Rebecca Loroff at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Fire, water damage at Oshkosh apartment complex displaces 14 residents
