At least one person was displaced Thursday after a small fire at a building on 8th and Q in downtown Lincoln. According to Lincoln Fire & Rescue, the fire started in the kitchen of a loft on the third floor of Arena Lofts.

“In the initial phases we were sent here on a regular box alarm with one engine one truck,” said Capt. Lloyd Mueller, acting Batallion Chief. “We identified that they did have smoke conditions stating that there was a fire in one of the apartments we’ve upgraded the alarms to a second alarm due to the occupancy and the people that are living up above.”

LFR found it was a small fire that started in the kitchen. It is still under investigation whether it was the stove top or a kitchen appliance. “Right now we have a lot of water damage just through the sprinkler system activation,” said Mueller. “So the fire was great enough it did…signal the sprinklers to activate.”

According to LFR, there was nobody in the apartment where the fire started. “A lot of the residents are not around so we’re still trying to get a hold of them and let them know,” said Mueller. Mueller said there was one resident who was displaced. “This is a brand new apartment building so they’re being renovated,” he said.

According to one of the employees with the clean up crew, water damage affected about six apartments and a cigar shop below. Most of the water damage was from the sprinklers.

“We put a very small amount of water on the fire itself due to the sprinklers activation,” said Mueller, “…the water damage is just shutting down the system…getting the water to drain out of the pipes and getting it to not go into the building but outside the building.”

Mueller said the Red Cross and the Chaplain were called out to help those who were displaced.

 

There was no damage to the Twin Peaks restaurant below.

 

Mueller said they had a few animals they protected and put in a safe room in the apartments.