CHOTEAU — Emergency crews battled a fire at an apartment building in Choteau on Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses tell MTN News it happened at the Gunther apartment building nad people were urged to avoid Main Avenue North.
All 20 residents of the building have been accounted for; two people were taken to Benefis Teton Medical Center in Choteau to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
According to the Teton County Sheriff's Office, the fire will more than likely continue to burn into the night.
"We don’t know what the smoke has in it. there’s a lot of toxins and stuff in there and we’re very concerned about issues in the future with breathing difficulties, if you breathe in that smoke too long, so we got a lot to do and really want people to be safe first," Sheriff Keith Van Setten said.
People in Choteau are asked to conserve water until further notice, due to the large amount of water needed to douse the fire.
“Our EMS folks have gone door to door and asked those folks to evacuate as well just to keep them out of the smoke, and I talked to one of the guys that lived there -- an ex-city employee -- and he said, 'I didn’t even grab my wallet when I got out,' so there’s going to be some issues here," Choteau mayor Chris Hindoien said. "We reached out to the Salvation Army in Great Falls and they’re going to be coming up as well.”
Firefighters from Choteau, Fairfield, Sun River, Pendroy, and Augusta all responded to help battle the fire. At this point, the cause of the fire has not been determined.
