The Red Cross of Northwest Missouri is assisting 12 families after an early morning apartment fire.
St. Joseph Fire Department Inspector Steve Henrichson said fire crews arrived at Brittany Village apartments around 3 a.m. Thursday. He said the fire started in a utility closest under apartment No. 6.
“The fire had been burning for a long time,” Henrichson said. “It was in a confined space.”
He said the cause of the fire will remain undetermined due to the amount of damage in the area of the furnace and electrical junctions.
Henrichson said firefighters as well as the St. Joseph Police Department jumped in to help rescue many individuals out of windows of the 12 unit apartment complex. He said no one was seriously injured however, two were treated for smoke inhalation.
The Red Cross was called in to assist the families displaced from the fire.
“We are meeting emergency needs for all the the families that were impacted,” said Angie Springs, Red Cross Ex. Dir. “There are some that need medications and eye glasses and those kinds of things and others with small children and we’ll be assisting those needs that they would have.”
However, disaster response came with a few more barriers Thursday morning. Springs said because a number of the families did not speak fluent English other volunteers had to be called in to help interpret.
“We had to call in lots of help from our volunteers that were bilingual,” Springs said. “There’s some from Myanmar, some spoke Mandarin Chinese, some were Sudanese.”
The Red Cross is asking for monetary donations to aid with future disaster relief and volunteers wanting to assist in the community. Springs said volunteers are needed in many areas.
“Volunteers can help us in lots of different capacities, from translating to providing that client assistance in the middle of the night,” Springs said.
The Red Cross of Northwest Missouri is located at 401 N. 12th St. For more information on donating or volunteer opportunities contact the Red Cross at (816) 232-8439