North Rapid Apartment Building Damaged By Fire

No injuries reported, investigation underway 

Rapid City, S.D. – At 12:28 am firefighters from Rapid City Fire Department Stations 1, 4 and 7 responded to a report of a structure fire at 1130 Holcomb Avenue. Pennington County 9-1-1 received calls reporting a fire in a downstairs apartment. When crews arrived at the four unit apartment building, they encountered heavy fire conditions. Fire was showing out of a downstairs window and burning up the exterior wall threatening the apartment above and extending into the roof structure of the building. Firefighters were able to quickly knock down the exterior fire before making entry into the involved apartment. Forward progress of the fire was stopped in about 20 minutes. Firefighters remained on scene until about 4:00 am completing an extensive overhaul process to locate and extinguish hot spots.

All of the buildings occupants were able to safely evacuate. No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported as a result of this incident. Seven occupants of the building are temporarily displaced due to the fire. The American Red Cross serving Central and Western South Dakota was on scene assisting occupants with immediate needs.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Rapid City Fire Department’s Fire and Life Safety Division.

Updates to this release are not anticipated at this time. For questions or comment regarding this incident, please contact Lt. Jim Bussell, Public Information Officer for the Rapid City Fire Department, at 605-394-4180

Above: Firefighters work to extinguish hot spots in the roof structure.

Above: Firefighters outside keep watch as firefighters inside of the structure work to extinguish hot spots.

Above: Firefighters douse hot spots in a downstairs apartment.

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RCFD Units Responding: Truck 1, Squad 1, Battalion 1, Engine 7, Medic 7, Engine 4, RCFD Investigator, RCFD PIO

Other Agencies Responding: Whispering Pines FD with County Cascade System, Rapid City Police Department, Black Hills Energy, Montana Dakota Utilities, City of Rapid City Water Department, American Red Cross serving Central and Western South Dakota

RCFD to Conduct Drills at Rehabilitation Institute

Building is due to be demolished later this month 

Rapid City, S.D. – This week, Rapid City Firefighters will conduct drills and training at the Rehabilitation Institute building located at 2908 5^th Street in Rapid City. The building is due to be demolished later this month as part of an ongoing construction project at the hospital. The Rapid City Fire Department Training Section anticipates training and drill activities to take place at various times during day and evening on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week.

Thanks to the generosity of Regional Health, the RCFD will have the opportunity to train and conduct a number of scenario based drills in a realistic environment. Training and drills will focus on high-rise operations, aerial operations, forcible entry and search patterns in large occupancies. Some of the drills will be conducted in low visibility conditions with smoke generated by a smoke machine.

Training and drills are important to maintaining and enhancing firefighter skills. In October of 2018, Rapid City Firefighters trained and performed drills on a building set for demolition in the 700 block of West Street. During that training, one of the skills taught to firefighters was a basement window rescue technique in which a victim could be evacuated if their primary egress were to become compromised. That training was put to use only two weeks later as firefighters rescued an individual from his basement apartment window during a fire on Cherry Avenue in Rapid City utilizing techniques taught on West Street.

During the training and drills, a large number of firefighters dressed in structural firefighting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and large fire apparatus will be clearly visible. Motorists, Regional Health employees and members of the public in the area of the Rehabilitation Institute should not be alarmed.

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

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