Local authorities and agencies worked together to combat the fire at the Bluffs apartment complex on April 8th.

Garry Berges, Geary County Emergency Management Director, said that the cooperation and response of assisting agencies was impressive.

“Especially with [the fire] being early in the morning, we’re just thankful that we got everybody out of there safely; the Deputies, the Police Officers from both Junction City and Grandview Plaza they went around and knocked on doors, and if they couldn’t get an answer they kicked in the doors and made sure everybody was out of that building in a timely manner,” said Berges.

Fire Chief Terry Johnson issued the following statement on the fire:

“JCFD responded to reported working structure fire at location. On scene established command, 28 unit; three story apartment building with heavy fire involving the southeast corner of the building with extension into the common attic. JCPD and Geary County Sheriff’s Office on scene assisted with evacuation of residents, steady wind from the south quickly spread the fire throughout the attic and third floor area. First arriving units continued to evacuate the fire building as well as establishing water supply and placing master stream operations into service. Due to the volume of the fire and weather conditions and the presence of a large amount of embers being spread through the complex in particular Building “D” directly to the north JCFD established multiple water streams to protect the exposed structures. JFCD Requested JCPD and Geary County Sheriff’s Office on scene to start evacuation of the possible exposed buildings and for apparatus to place their master streams into operations as “water curtains” in an effort to knock down and prevent additional structures from igniting. The incident utilized 6 fire hydrants with an average flow of 1000 to 1500 gallons per minute.“

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. It’s the second building in the Bluffs apartment complex to burn down in the span of a year.

County Commissioner Ben Bennett said that it is disheartening to know so many residents are displaced.

“I think it’s a shame that we’ve had two of those buildings burn down, and I think there are some concerns about the manufacturer and the codes and all the things that were going on,” said Bennett. “I would hope that those things would be reviewed so that this will not occur again.”

Displaced residents have been moved into vacant units in the Bluffs complex.

No one was injured in the fire.