Hays Fire Department
At around 2:30 a.m. Friday, the City of Hays Fire Department, supported by the City of Hays Police Department and Ellis County EMS, was dispatched to a report of a building fire at 3510 Canal Blvd.

According to Fire Chief Gary Brown, on arrival, firefighters found a decaying kitchen fire in one unit of a four unit apartment building. Firefighters used a fire extinguisher to compete extinguishment. First arriving police officers made sure that the occupants of all four units had evacuated. One occupant was treated and transported by Ellis County EMS to HaysMed with non-life threatening injuries.

The kitchen suffered significant fire damage however the fire was only smoldering on the arrival of firefighters. The rest of the apartment suffered heat and smoke damage. Smoke and carbon monoxide had spread throughout the building. The occupant of the fire apartment reported that he woke-up to find his apartment filled with smoke. He escaped his apartment, woke up neighbors in an adjacent building to call 911 and then went back to knock on doors in the fire building to alert others to the danger.

Fifteen firefighters staffing five fire trucks responded. The last fire crews left the scene at 4:03 AM.