Fire Marshal investigating apartment fire in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., (KBSI) – The Cape Girardeau Fire Marshal is investigating a fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon.

Crews responded to the fire in a basement-level apartment on Clark Street across from Cape Central Junior High school. Officials say it was a cooking-related incident.

John Winters lives in the apartment building next door, he said he’s the person who called 911 after going inside the apartment trying to help the tenant put it out.

“By that time, the whole ceiling and everything was just rolling,” he said, “black smoke was bellowing out, and there was about two [feet] of flames rolling across the ceiling.”

Winters said the tenant in the burning apartment had been cooking when the fire started and went to Winters for help — asking for a fire extinguisher.

“I told him where one was. Well, he said it didn’t work. We grabbed the next available fire extinguisher, and it didn’t work either. He said he tried three. It didn’t work and I called 911 to get fire department here,” Winters said.

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Randy Morris said they had close to 30 firefighters working at the scene.

They rescued two people in the second floor apartment that were trapped by the heavy smoke.

“We were able to get a ladder set up very quickly to get them down to safety while simultaneously pulling a hose line to start getting the fire that was coming out of the front of the building,” Morris said.

Fire officials report that everyone in the building was accounted for and none needed medical attention. Unfortunately, they did find a cat that had died.

Cape Central Junior High School staff members brought coats for the family who lost their apartment. They had been drenched while standing out in the rain.

“Accidents happen, you know, and that’s all it was — an accident,” Winters said. “I hate to see anybody lose everything over an accident.”

Morris verified that the tenants told fire officials the same thing – that the fire extinguishers didn’t work for them.

Fire Marshal Drew St. John told FOX23 they are still investigating and will have more answers later this week.

According to online property records, the apartment building is owned by Hamlet Group, LLC, also operating under the name Rent SEMO. FOX23 reached out to Rent SEMO to ask about the fire extinguishers in the building. They have not responded to our request for comment.