Apartment fire began in kitchen

A kitchen fire caused heavy smoke damage early Sunday at an apartment complex in northeast Fort Wayne, the city fire department said.

Firefighters were sent to 5210 Stonehedge Blvd. about 2:20 a.m. and found smoke coming from a first-floor apartment in a three-story building.

Firefighters extinguished a blaze that started on a stove in the apartment. The fire was under control by 2:50 a.m., the department said.

Eleven neighboring apartments were evacuated, and all the residents escaped without injury.

A ladder was used to bring some residents down from a second-floor balcony, the department said.

aingersoll@jg.net