A bolt of lightning that energized a Gillette apartment building’s plumbing and wiring Tuesday night sparked multiple disjointed fires in the walls, prompting the evacuation of 21 units, the local fire marshal said.
A lightning storm rushed through Campbell County in northeast Wyoming at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, sending a lightning strike directly into a building in the north part of the Remington Village Apartments complex, said Campbell County Fire Marshal Stuart Burnham.
Smoke poured through the roof and was visible for miles around as firefighters quickly evacuated the entire building.
Twenty-one of the 24 apartment units were occupied at the time. Everyone was evacuated and no one was hurt, Burnham noted in a written statement shortly before talking with Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Sparked by the heated, electricity-conducting building components, multiple disjointed fires flared within vacant spaces of the walls. Though these were invisible from normal points of entry, firefighters spotted them with thermal imaging cameras, Burnham said.
Chasing down multiple unseen fires on the walls of three different levels of the building makes for a “different environment for suppression efforts,” said Burnham. “They also had to open up quite a few of the walls to verify there was no fire behind them.”
They blasted the blazes with water and used other fire suppression efforts which, along with the fire and smoke damage, will make the building uninhabitable for an undetermined amount of time going forward, Burnham said. Nearly all units were damaged. Many residents may be able to retrieve their things in the future, though their possessions may have water or other kinds of damage.
Burnham said a restoration company will be able to give the building owner an exact timeframe for when the units will be habitable again. He declined to offer an estimate.
Fire crews were still monitoring the building Wednesday. More than 30 firefighters responded to the incident and remained on scene through the night, says Burnham’s statement.
The fire raged while numerous visitors at the International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette were also displaced because of a cold, windy thunderstorm.
It was unusual to have both disasters happening at once, said Burnham.
ATF Helping Because Of Twin Disasters
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is now investigating the Remington Village Apartments fire to help with the strain on local resources, Burnham added.
“That’s not uncommon. They have a lot of investigative resources and fire investigation is one of their specialties,” he said.
The American Red Cross is also working to help the displaced apartment residents.
Sylvia Aguirre-Peppers, Red Cross disaster program manager for eastern Wyoming, said the organization opened a shelter Tuesday night for affected individuals, but was deliberating Wednesday afternoon on whether the group needs to keep the shelter open for a longer period.
Aguirre-Peppers said she’d update Cowboy State Daily with more information Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily will update this story as more information is available.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
