Senior Will Mihalow saw smoke billowing from the direction of his apartment as his friend drove him home from downtown Kent’s Venice Cafe around 9 p.m. Tuesday. 

The smoke was coming from a dumpster fire at the Eagles Landing Apartments off Morris Road, Mihalow discovered when arriving back home at The Province apartments nearby. 

Kent Fire Department Captain David Moore, who was not on the call for the fire, confirmed the station received a call about a dumpster fire at Eagles Landing at 9:09 p.m. The department fully responded with a ladder and an engine company, he said. Officers left the scene at 9:28 p.m.

Lieutenant Craig Peeps, the fire officer in charge during the incident, said the fire occurred at 820 Morris Road. No injuries were reported, and the fire only caused apparent damage to the dumpster, he said. 

“I was getting worried because it seemed like a lot of smoke, and I thought maybe a building was on fire down there, so we went over to check it out,” said Mihalow, a political science and communications major. “The flames weren’t too high. It was mostly just a lot of smoke. It didn’t look like anything was in danger. There were cars parked next to it, and they looked like they were fine.”

Everything seemed “under control,” according to Mihalow, as he watched the fire truck pull up to the scene and spray water at the fire. The flames appeared to stay below the top of the dumpster, and the dumpster looked about eight or more feet away from the building, he said.

There is no confirmed cause of the fire because no one in the area said they witnessed how it started, Peeps said. 

Isabella Schreck is editor-in-chief. Contact her at [email protected].