Apartment fire displaces 55 people

An apartment fire off of Hampton Place damaged 12 units and displaced 55 residents.

Hoover Fire Department received a call Wednesday around 3 a.m. regarding a fire at The Park at Galleria apartments. Executive officer Rusty Lowe said the fire started in a kitchen and the tenants extinguished the fire.

"Our crews arrived at the scene, and there was smoke in the building," Lowe said. "A cooking fire on the stove had been extinguished and was out."

The fire, however, had spread into the walls and ceiling up to the attic and in between the floors. It took firefighters 40-45 minutes to extinguish the fire, Lowe said, and there were several hidden fires.

No injuries were reported. Lowe said one tenant's smoke detector went off and he alerted the other residents in his apartment. They then helped notify other residents in the building, who were able to exit the apartment.

"The properly functioning smoke detector probably saved some lives there," Lowe said.

Damage to the 12 units included smoke, fire and water damage, Lowe said. The Red Cross is working with the apartment management company to relocate the displaced tenants and give them assistance.