An apartment fire killed one person and displaced another dozen people in the early hours of October 5.

Great Falls Fire Rescue was dispatched around 2 a.m. to a building fire at 1701 20th St. S., an apartment complex.

GFFR said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Red Cross was contacted and is assisting other residents.

Last night, the GFFR issued a second alarm for the apartment fire, meaning other firefighters were again called in to help respond, Chief Jeremy Jones told The Electric.

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GFFR is still assessing calls from the overnight wind event and Jones said three engine companies were recalled on Oct. 5 to assist, in addition to the standard four that were always on duty.

The fire at the apartment complex flared up again a few hours later and GFFR responded, Jones said.

GFFR crews responded to more than 100 calls after 7 p.m. on Oct. 4 and continued to respond Saturday morning.

“As people wake up and see the damage from last night’s wind event, please be patient and know that NorthWestern Energy has been notified of many of the lines that are still out of service at this time. Our emergency responders have been inundated with calls and are doing a great job gathering information and prioritizing emergency services so the most critical calls are handled first,” GFFR said.

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Both GFFR and NorthWestern advised the public to consider all downed power lines as live and to maintain a safe distance.

NorthWestern crews worked through the night in response to the wind event in the region.

According to the National Weather Service office in Great Falls, gusts of 26 miles per hour began developing around 7:30 p.m. and the temperature was 75 degrees.

By 8:15 p.m., temperatures had dropped to 61 degrees and sustained wind speeds reached 43 miles per hour with gusts of 56 miles per hour, according to NWS.

Winds remained in the 40 mph range with a maximum recorded speed of 51 mph at 9:25 p.m. before dying down. According to NWS, peak winds were recorded as 73 miles per hour at 9:20 p.m.

Wind speeds dropped into the 20 and 30 mile per hour range overnight with gusts in the 30 to 40 mile per hour range.

The GFFR was scheduled to conduct simulated fire training exercises for single-family homes in the 100 block of 5th Avenue Southwest on Saturday, but all crews remained on scene at the apartment fire as of Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m., and callback crews covered the remainder of the fire. the city, according to GFFR.