An apartment door was boarded up after a fire at the Parkside Apartments in Marshall on Saturday. The Marshall Fire Department said the apartment had significant heat and smoke damage. Water from putting out the fire also damaged apartments beneath the fire.

MARSHALL — A fire at the Parkview Apartments in Marshall on Saturday left one apartment uninhabitable and led to water damage in other apartments, the Marshall Fire Department said.

Deputy Fire Chief Jake Olsen said the fire, which started on the balcony of a third-floor apartment, is under investigation. The Red Cross was contacted to assist the resident of the apartment where the fire started. A pet cat in the apartment was found alive and well after the fire, Olsen said.

Olsen said the Marshall Fire Department responded to the fire call, and requested mutual aid from the Ghent Fire Department. At first, firefighters used a Marshall fire truck’s water jet to knock down the flames, he said. Then, firefighters were able to access the apartment with ladders.

“We were fortunate that (the apartment) was on the street side,” facing North First Street, Olsen said.

The rear of the Parkview Apartments building overlooks the Redwood River, and would not be accessible to fire trucks. Olsen said Parkview Apartments does have standpipes that responders would be able to use to fight fires at the rear side of the building.

Olsen said there were a lot of people at the scene, including residents of the apartments.

“The Marshall Police Department was a huge help with evacuating and starting to get people out of that building,” he said. He said the MPD was also able to let firefighters know about tenants who were not able to evacuate and were sheltering in place.

The fire caused significant heat and smoke damage to the apartment, Olsen said. Because of the amount of water used to put out the fire, there was also water damage reported in apartments below the fire, he said.