Firefighters Extinguish Apartment Mattress Fire – 1250 31st St

01/24/2013 – Shortly before 3:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the Parkersburg Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm at Parkland Place, an 8 story apartment complex, located at 1250 31st St.

A resident had returned home to his third floor apartment and, upon entering, found the room full of heavy smoke. He returned to the hallway and manually activated the fire alarm via a pull station.

Firefighters quickly arrived from Station 4 on West Virginia Ave. They made entry and removed a burning mattress and bedding through the exterior balcony. Damages were limited to the bedroom and the apartment was able to be occupied. No injuries were reported.

“The apartment tenant is to be commended. In school, students are often told to not pull the fire alarm, so most people are apprehensive about doing so. He did exactly what he was supposed to do,” said Fire Chief Eric Taylor.

Fire investigators determined the cause of the fire to be a faulty electric blanket.