The McCook City and Volunteer Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire early Friday morning at 12th Street Court, Apartment #7.  The call was received at 1:00 AM and crews were on scene in two minutes.  The building is a six-plex and the fire was located in the north end of the complex.  Firefighters reported heavy smoke exiting the roof of the north end of the complex upon arrival at the scene.

Firefighters entered the structure and extinguished a fire in the attic area of the building.  The fire was declared under control approximately 20 minutes after the arrival of the fire department.

During the initial firefighting operations, all occupants of the complex were evacuated until the fire was declared under control, at which time, most of the occupants were allowed back inside of the building.

The owner of the apartment, Ed Woods, reported being awakened by a "popping sound" and noticed that the electricity to his alarm clock was shut off.  He immediately exited the structure and called 911.  The apartment did have smoke detectors throughout the structure.

Twenty-three firefighters remained on the scene for approximately 4 1/2 hours extinguishing hot spots and performing salvage operations.

A Deputy from the Nebraska State Fire Marshal's office was called in to assist with the investigation into the cause of the blaze.  It was determined that an electric work light was left on in the attic area and started the fire. Preliminary damage estimates are $20,000 to the structure and $15,000 to the contents.

A quick response and quick knockdown of the fire prevented the fire from spreading to the adjoining apartments and causing more damage.

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