NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A fire Wednesday evening in an high-rise apartment building for the elderly appears to have been accidental, Fire Chief Leonard Albanese Jr. said.
The tenant of the apartment in which the fire started was pulled from the blaze by firefighters and taken to Rhode Island Hospital with burns and breathing complications from smoke inhalation, Albanese said. The man was not immediately identified.
Firefighters responded to the Brook Village Apartments, an 11-story senior housing building at 2072 Smith St., around 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The fire, which investigators determined had started in the living room, was contained to the fifth-floor apartment, Albanese said. The cause of the fire is pending final determination from the state fire marshal's office.
Two residents in adjacent apartments, Albanese said, were treated for smoke inhalation and a North Providence firefighter was treated at Rhode Island Hospital. It was unclear what injuries the firefighter had sustained.
Several units on the fifth floor were temporarily evacuated Wednesday.