American Red Cross assisting displaced residents
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Photo courtesy of KWCH
An electrical short within power cords under a desk on the first floor sparked a fire at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment center in Wichita.
"No one who lives in the center or firefighters were injured," said Wichita Fire Investigations Lt. Troy Thissen.
It happened shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at 937 South Bluffview near Lincoln and Oliver at the Atishwin Institute. The smoke and flames were coming from a patients room.
Damage was estimated at $25,000. The Red Cross was called to assist 20 residents who were displaced by the fire.
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Twenty people have been displaced following a fire at the Atishwin Institute in east Wichita.
The call of the fire came in around 1:15 p.m. Sunday afternoon. First fire crews on the scene noted smoke and flames coming from a room in the building. Firefighters were able to keep the fire contained to the room.
Wichita Fire Batallion Chief Ernie Schuler says that there were roughly 20 people inside the building at the time of the fire. Everybody in the building was able to make it out without injury.
Schuler says that a cause of the fire is still under investigation, with damage estimated to be around $25,000.
The American Red Cross was called out to help relocate the 20 people that were in the building at the time of the fire.
"We have about 10 Red Cross volunteers [at the scene] helping 20 people walk through the next steps of the recovery process after the fire," says Red Cross Spokesman James Williams.
Williams says that trained mental health workers are also on the scene helping the victims of the fire.
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