Fire destroys seven west side apartments; no injuries - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

A suspected lightning strike caused a fire at an Indianapolis west side apartment complex that damaged 14 units.

Seven apartments were destroyed in the fire at Island Club Apartments. The complex is just south of I-74 on the west side.

The units were occupied but no one was injured.

Kuyon Law, a resident whose apartment was damaged, went back home to retrieve something he forgot after leaving for the morning. He was able to alert his neighbor to the danger.

"I heard crackling sounds in between my neighbor's and my walls. So I went back outside and I saw smoke coming from the chimney. It was thick smoke. I went to my neighbor and got her and the baby out. About ten minutes later, it was in flames. Gone," said Law.

Firefighters from Wayne Township, Avon, Brownsburg, Indianapolis and Pike Township fought the fire.

"Crews went in, started knocking down the attic space, but the problem was it was running the attic space and we had to pull everyone out. For a short period of time we hit it from an exterior attack, brought the fire under control and went back in," said Mike Pruitt, Wayne Township Fire Dept.

Red Cross disaster workers are helping residents at the scene with food, clothing, shelter and support.