Repairs will be done at the River Terrace high rise in Benton Harbor after the building suffered smoke and water damage during a fire on Sunday. The Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety says officers were called to the building at 300 River Terrace in the afternoon and found an alarm sounding in an 8th floor apartment where there had been a small kitchen fire. While they were investigating the original fire, officers found heavy smoke and fire in the trash compactor room on the first floor. That fire produced heavy amounts of smoke throughout the building and the high rise was evacuated. The fire was brought under control after about 30 minutes and firefighters determined was caused by the resident who’d had the kitchen fire throwing still-burning debris down the trash shoot. Firefighters remind everyone not to dispose of debris from a fire in the trash. The building suffered smoke and extensive water damage from the sprinklers operating on multiple floors and in the trash shoot rooms. There were no injuries. The building was turned back over to management about two hours after the fire call came in, and restoration crews are working to clean up the water and smoke damage.
