A man set fire to an apartment and called a friend for help

POCATELLO — A local man allegedly set his apartment on fire before calling his friend while trapped inside the burning premises.

On Wednesday evening, Pocatello fire and police departments responded to a 911 call alerting them to a fire at 1160 South Fourth Avenue. Crews evacuated the building and rescued a man trapped in his apartment, who police said intentionally set the fire. .

“This was not an accident,” said Lt. Josh Hancock of the police department.

The man who called 911 around 6:45 p.m. was a friend of the trapped resident. Instead of calling 911 himself, the man called his friend.

Arriving at the scene: “We were able to get inside and take the person out. They were able to leave the apartment under their own power,” said Shane Grow, assistant fire chief of operations.

Having escaped from the building under smoke, firefighters immediately rushed him to the hospital in an ambulance. The resident was still at the area hospital the next day, but he didn’t know his condition, Hancock said.

Damage to the building was not immediately noticeable from the outside. One of the windows was broken and charred glass shards were still on the ground Thursday night. There are streaks of smoke visible on the front door.

Grow said it only took them about 10 minutes to completely contain the fire and keep it from spreading beyond the basement apartment building where it started, which is now uninhabitable. The apartment above him was empty at the time.

About 8-10 residents who were evacuated from the building were allowed to return home around 8 p.m.

Although fire investigators were at the scene, Grow explained that this was nothing unusual.

“We always have investigators on scene. So we worked together with police investigators, but we do this on a regular basis,” Grow said.

It is unclear whether the rescued apartment occupant will be charged. The incident remains under investigation by the Pocatello Police Department.