Unattended cooking leads to apartment fire

Unattended cooking led to a kitchen fire early Sunday morning in Cole County.

The fire at a four-unit apartment in the 4300 block of Rainbow Drive was called in around 1:50 a.m., according to Regional West Fire Protection District reports

When crews arrived the scene, smoke was coming from the building. At that time all those who had been inside were out.

However, a short time after the firefighters' arrival, a man dashed back into the building. Using a thermal imaging camera, firefighters could see the man inside. Before they went in, the man was able to get out on his own and was treated later for smoke inhalation.

When firefighters entered the structure, they found the stove was still on in the kitchen of one of the apartments. They were able to extinguish the fire and contain it to the kitchen, which suffered fire damage to cabinets and smoke damage. A neighboring apartment also had smoke damage.