Early Morning Fire Rips Through Renton Apartment Complex

Nine families are displaced and two people are in the hospital after an early morning fire ripped through the Heritage Grove Apartment complex in the 1100 block of Sunset Boulevard Northeast.

The fire started around 2:30 a.m. Friday, said Capt. Jerry Johnson with Renton Fire and Emergency Services. Multiple agencies responded to the blaze, including Renton's ladder 11, engine 11, engine 12, engine 14, engine 16 and aid 12; Tukwila's engine 51; Skyway's engine 22 and aid 22; and ladder 74 out of Kent. 

"There was quite a bit of fire," Johnson said, describing the blaze as a "solid glow." 

"The guys did a great job (of containing the fire)," he said.

The fire burned through four units, displacing approximately 22 people. Red Cross is coordinating relief efforts for the families and has set up a temporary shelter at the Renton Community Center.

The exact number of people affected is yet unknown, said Howard Ferrucci, King County's Red Cross mass care manager. Some people were not home at the time of the blaze, he said, but the apartment manager will direct other affected residents to the temporary shelter. Red Cross will assist the families with food, shelter and clothing over the next day or so, and to help the families arrange long-term shelter, he said. 

"Right now it's very fluid," he said as he stood near the Red Cross disaster relief feeding unit outside the apartment complex.

Fires of this size are reasonably rare in Renton. The Renton Fire Investigation unit is still working to determine the cause of the blaze. 

"This is more fire than I've seen in a long time," said Battalion Chief Karl Rufener just before he re-opened Sunset Boulevard to northbound traffic shortly after 7:30 a.m.