A woman was transported to a hospital after a Dec. 9 fire broke out at her apartment in Apple Valley. The Apple Valley Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a fire in an apartment at 6583 158th St. W. at 10:10 a.m. Dec. 9. Someone was reportedly in the apartment and couldn’t get out, said Acting Fire Chief Chuck Russell.

When firefighters arrived, the fire was contained within one apartment unit on the third floor. Apple Valley police officers and Allina paramedics were already on the third floor trying to gain access to the door which was locked. They were able to enter the apartment but were unable to reach the woman inside because of heavy smoke conditions. One officer and one paramedic took themselves to the hospital as a precautionary measure, Russell said. Russell said firefighters were able to get the woman out of the apartment. There were flames in the living room, which were extinguished by the firefighters and the apartment building’s sprinkler system that had been activated.

The woman was transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation and light burns, Russell said. The fire department was on the scene for about two and a half hours and was assisted at the scene by the Lakeville Fire Department. Russell said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the department believes it started in the living room. That unit was had fire damage and the unit below had water damage, so the occupants had to evacuate.

He noted that the damage to the overall building would have been more extensive without the sprinkler system. “The sprinkler systems really do a nice job of controlling that fire for us,” he said.