Fire, Law Enforcement Agencies Investigating Fatal Garage Fire

Rapid City, S.D. – At 1:30 am the Rapid City Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a structure fire at 118 Signal Drive in Rapid City. Rapid City Police Department officers on patrol in the area arrived on scene within three minutes of the call and advised responding RCFD units that the garage was fully involved. As firefighters responded, dispatchers from Pennington County 9-1-1 relayed information that the detached garage was occupied and that it was unknown if any individuals remained inside.

When the first RCFD units arrived on scene four minutes after dispatch, they observed heavy fire conditions throughout the detached, two-stall garage. Firefighters quickly attacked the fire, stopping the forward progress of the fire within five minutes of arrival. Police Officers located an individual with non-life threatening injuries nearby. Rapid City Fire Department Paramedics transported that individual to a local hospital. The condition of the individual in unknown at this time.

As firefighters extinguished the flames, the body of an unidentified individual was located in the garage. The individual was pronounced dead at the scene. As of the time of this release, the gender, age and identity of the deceased individual is not known.

Firefighters remained on scene until just after 3:00 am extinguishing hot spots. No other civilian injuries or injuries to firefighters were reported. The fire threatened two nearby occupied residential structures. Neither of those structures sustained any damage.

The cause of the fire and the investigation into the cause and manner in which one individual perished and another was injured is under investigation by the Rapid City Police Department, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and the Rapid City Fire Department.

At this time, no other information is available for release. Updates related to this incident will be provided when appropriate.

For questions related to this release, please contact Lt. Jim Bussell, Public Information Officer for the Rapid City Fire Department, at 605-394-4180.

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