Man injured in Belleville apartment fire

One man was injured and a family was displaced after a fire gutted an apartment on Lakeshore Drive in Belleville Wednesday.

Firefighters were dispatched to the four-unit apartment building at 5:48 p.m. and arrived to find heavy fire and smoke pouring from both the front and rear portions of the southern unit on the building’s upper floor.

According to Fire Chief Tom Pour, a battalion chief with the first arriving crew, a neighbor helped firefighters pull the man from the burning apartment. The man’s identity was not released. He was transported to an area hospital where his condition is unknown.

Pour said the apartment where the fire started was destroyed. The family residing below the burned apartment also was displaced because their unit sustained heavy water damage. Smoke seeped into the other two units on the northern half of the building but inspectors determined that part of the building was safe and Ameren Illinois crews did not need to cut off utility service to that side of the building. Residents in the northern two units were not displaced.

Pour said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Man injured in Belleville apartment fire."