Fire sends 3 to hospital, displaces others

A residential fire Sunday afternoon sent three residents to the hospital and displaced the other residents of a two-story apartment complex off of SW 16th Ave.

A Gainesville Fire Rescue (GFR) unit arrived at the scene 3 minutes after receiving the dispatch, at around 1 p.m., and rescued an adult from one of the apartments less than 3 minutes later, according to a GFR press release.

Firefighters had to rescue one person, who went to the hospital along with two others for treatment. GFR did not report how many residents will be displaced due to the blaze. 

In total, 21 firefighters worked with two crews from Alachua County Fire Rescue to extinguish the fire. The cause is still under investigation.

GFR is still investigating the cause of the fire and encouraged residents to ensure their smoke detectors work. The National Fire Protection Agency reports the risk of fatality in home structure fires decreases by 55 percent with a working smoke detector.