MONROE — A suspected kitchen fire at Monroe Village Apartments last week displaced residents and sent two people to Monroe Clinic for treatment of smoke inhalation, according to the Monroe Fire Department.

The accidental fire started in a second-floor apartment in the two-story building at 1086 4th Ave. West and spread to the roof. It was reported at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday, April 5.

About 50 to 60 firefighters responded from across Green County and neighboring counties and many stayed on scene until 10:30 p.m. that night, said Monroe Fire Chief Dan Smits.

“We were able to substantially limit the damage in the building. There is no damage in the hallway, even though this thing was rocking,” Smits said. “This could have been so much worse.”

Smits said the cause of the fire is believed to be related to cooking and the stove, not any malfunction of apartment building equipment.

Aside from the two cases of smoke inhalation, no injuries were reported.

About eight apartments sustained damage, Smits said. The apartment where the fire started had the most substantial damage, and reconstruction is expected to take a few months. Smits said the management company is helping the resident of this apartment find alternate housing in the meantime.

The Red Cross provided hotel vouchers to other residents whose apartments sustained water or smoke damage.

Smoke damage doesn’t technically make an apartment uninhabitable, Smits said, but the smell can still be difficult to be around.

On Friday afternoon, Brenda Coulthard was helping her aunt Patricia Bradt, a resident in the building, air out her apartment, wash everything and collect smoky-smelling clothing to launder.

Firefighters had to ax a hole in Bradt’s bedroom ceiling, Coulthard said. The hole was already boarded up, but Bradt would be staying with Coulthard in South Wayne for a few days until the smoke smell was gone, she said.

Coulthard’s son works at an auto dealership near the apartment complex and called her when he and his coworkers saw smoke.

“I got here as soon as I could,” Coulthard said. She arrived to find Bradt safely out of her apartment and sitting in a warm car nearby.

Coulthard was feeling “more positive” about the situation by Friday afternoon, but the experience had shaken her. One of her aunt’s neighbors lost many of his possessions to water damage, she said.

“It was pretty damn scary, I’m not going to lie,” she said.

Kayla Solberger, a resident in a neighboring attached building in the complex, said she was sitting on her couch Thursday afternoon when she heard a smoke alarm going off. She got out right away, even though she didn’t see or smell smoke.

“I grabbed my dog, my shoes, my purse,” she said. Once outside, she saw smoke coming from the next building over and called 911.

“Right before the fire department got there, that’s when it went up in flames,” she said. Her apartment was spared but it would have been next if the fire hadn’t been stopped, she said. Her neighbor across the hall had smoke damage.

“It was kind of surreal,” Solberger said. “I’ve never been in a situation like that.”