A late-night apartment fire in central El Paso left one person dead and a neighborhood on edge on Wednesday, according to firefighters. Crews rushed to the 3600 block of Johnson Avenue just after 11:30 p.m., where they found flames and smoke pouring from an apartment building and began battling the blaze.
Firefighters got the fire under control and then moved into a careful search, checking the structure for hot spots and victims. The El Paso Fire Department later confirmed that one person had died in the fire, KVIA reported.
According to the station, crews knocked the fire down before continuing a room-to-room search and stayed on scene to chase down lingering hot spots while investigators began looking into what sparked the blaze. Officials have not released the victim’s identity or provided detailed information about how many residents were displaced.
Fire department response
The El Paso Fire Department says it responds to more than 100,000 calls for service every year, and this fire was no exception to its multi-crew approach. Units from several stations worked together to contain the flames, ventilate the building, and check for remaining hot spots while investigators secured the scene.
The city’s incident and open-records portal outlines how the public can request dispatch logs and other documents related to responses like this one.
How common are fatal apartment fires?
Deadly fires in multifamily buildings are not everyday events, but when they do happen, they tend to trigger lengthy investigations. A U.S. Fire Administration analysis of multifamily residential building fires estimated about 3.7 deaths per 1,000 multifamily building fires between 2017 and 2019. The report notes that modern buildings equipped with sprinkler systems tend to see far fewer fatalities.
To figure out what went wrong in cases like the Johnson Avenue fire, investigators typically review whether smoke alarms were present and working, look at potential electrical issues, and examine whether any sprinklers or other suppression systems activated as designed.
Authorities have not released the victim’s name, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation, KVIA reported. This story will be updated as officials release more information.
