HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Two people have been displaced after a fire broke out at a West End Henrico apartment complex Thursday morning.
Officials said fire crews were called to the St. Martins Trail apartments in the 3200 block of St. Martins Trail just after 8:15 a.m.
"First arriving units reported smoke coming from the rear of the two-story apartment building. In the second story apartment they found fire in the chimney structure that traveled into the attic of the apartment," Henrico County Fire pokesman Capt. Daniel Rosenbaum said. "Fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire and contain it to that one building. The lower apartment was affect by some minor water damage."
Bill Gray has lived at the apartment complex for the past 20 years.
He's seen and heard a lot over the past two decades, but after his morning walk Thursday morning, he experienced a first.
"I said, 'Boy what is going on, where' the fire?' I stepped outside and I didn't see the fire, but I could see the smoke," Gray said.
Flames ignited inside the second floor unit directly across the parking lot from where Gray lives.
"It was in that area up there,” he said. “There was a big cloud of smoke. And as far as being a big blaze, no. I didn't see a big blaze."
But there was enough damage that the two men who lived in the apartment where the fire broke out were displaced.
Others living close by were also been affected.
"There are people here that are gone for Thanksgiving that are going to come back and find that they have smoke and water damage,” Gray said.
Rosenbaum said the fire, which was marked under control around 9 a.m., was ruled "accidental in nature" and started in the second-story fireplace.
Officials said the blaze was fueled by old fireplace ashes that were dumped outside near a wooden portion of a chimney stack.
No one was injured.
"Smoke detectors save lives. Check your smoke detectors on a regular basis to ensure they will work properly and change the batteries twice a year," Rosenbaum said.
RELATED: 6 things Henrico firefighters say you should NEVER do in your kitchen
