Unattended cooking causes Columbia apartment fire

The Columbia Fire Marshal said unattended cooking caused a fire at Columbia Crossing Apartments in the 1600 block of Towne Drive on Sunday night.

When crews arrived to the scene, there was no visible smoke or flames coming from the building. However, the occupants of the apartment said the fire was in the kitchen of their apartment. Firefighters had to break a window on the bottom floor of the apartment to seemingly release smoke. Crews kept the fire contained to the one apartment in the basement area of the building and were able to control the fire within 10 minutes.

Officials said two people were home when the fire began, and no one was injured.

All building residents, except for the unit that caught fire, were able to return to their own apartment.

It happened around 8:30 p.m., and nine fire units responded to the blaze.

Officials have not yet released the amount of damage the fire caused to the apartment.