By Peter O’Cain and Chris Tucker

BREMERTON—There were no injuries after a three-alarm fire rampaged through the top floor of an apartment unit at Edgewood Apartment Villa in Manette June 22. (See map below.)

Huge orange flames tore a huge hole in the center of Building F. A manager on site grabbed a garden hose and pointed it at the fire.

The fire was reported at 3:18 p.m. Firefighters with Bremerton Fire Department and Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue responded to the blaze and had it mostly under control by 4:30 p.m. Firefighters atop ladder trucks sprayed water on the fire to do mop-up work.

Apartment manager Dan Kroner was among the first the notice the fire. He had been working in a ground floor unit when he stepped outside and saw the fire.

“I was coming outside and I heard popping of the siding and I turned around saw the siding (burning),” Kroner said. “I grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to put it out, but it was too much.”

Kroner even went into one of the burning apartments to see if anyone was inside.

“Dan ran into one of the third floor apartments,” said Consuelo Garcia, who lives in the complex. “He’s definitely the hero in this one, besides the firefighters.”

Kroner’s wife, Ramona, pulled the fire alarm and helped notify neighbors.

“I ripped my sandals off ‘cause I couldn’t move fast enough and I just went around barefoot,” she said.

Firefighters haven’t determined the official cause of the fire yet.

The roof of the center of the building had been eaten away by the fire, exposing charred wooden beams.

“This is all wood so it’s going to burn,” said Bremerton Fire Department Chief Al Duke as he watched firefighters do mop-up work.

Duke could estimate where the fire started by studying the fire-blacked marks on the building. A unit in the center had charred roof beams, while exposed beams in a unit directly to the right were not charred.

“See how charred they are on that one?” Duke said of the center unit. That’s where the fire likely started. “They’re not charred on that unit,” he said of the unit to the right.

Although the fire was reported at 3:18 p.m., Duke said it could have been smoldering all day long and only become noticeable later.

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was upset with the amount of time it took for firefighters to arrive.

“Some of the residents are dissatisfied about how long it took for the fire department to get here,” she said.

Duke said BFD units had been busy fighting a nearby brush fire and had also been responding to a separate medical aid call at the time the fire was reported. Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue arrived at the scene first.

Firefighters have to clear residents from buildings before they can begin dousing a fire.

“That’s what takes time is you gotta make sure everybody’s outta there,” Duke said.

There were 12 units the the building. The entire complex houses 88 units.

One CKFR firefighter was taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion.