Fire at Orchards-area apartments destroys four vehicles

Vancouver firefighters extinguished four vehicle fires early Wednesday morning in the parking lot of an Orchards-area apartment building, just outside the city limits.

Firefighters were dispatched about 4:50 a.m. to the Meadow Wood Apartments at 6811 N.E. 121st Ave., for a report of a multiresidential structure fire.

Tenants in the apartments called 911 after hearing multiple explosions in the parking lot. They believed as many as six to 10 cars were on fire, Vancouver Fire Department Capt. David James said.

The first crew to arrive discovered four vehicles engulfed in flames. The fires were not threatening the apartment building, but by the time they were no longer burning, the carport the vehicles were parked under had partially collapsed, James said.

Five cars were parked in a row, and the closest ones to the building suffered the most damage.

There were no reported injuries. The fire department declined to speculate about how the fires started.

A total of 19 firefighters responded to the scene.

By about 8 a.m., the scene was cleared of city and county officials. Yellow caution tape surrounded the burnt cars and damaged carport near the back of the apartment complex, which consists of more than a dozen buildings.

The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.