Fire Rips Through Bayside Oak Shores Apartment

BAYSIDE, WI -- Officials with the North Shore Fire Department say between 15-20 people were rescued following a blaze at the White Oaks Apartment Complex in Bayside over the weekend.

According to fire officials, the blaze was first reported just after midnight Saturday. When firefighters arrived, they reported seeing people stuck on balconies of the three-story, 62-unit apartment building in dire need of rescue as the building behind them was in the process of going up in flames.

"From 12:15 to 12:40, the whole apartment was ablaze. This happened really, really fast," said Shane Lindberg, tenant in a Fox 6-TV report.

Miraculously, fire officials said only two people needed to go to the hospital with minor injruries, and that everyone in the building has been accounted for.

Fire officials say the fire is not suspicious in nature, and that the fire likely started on a balcony and may have been electrical in nature. Multiple state and local agencies are working to determine the exact cause of the fire, officials say.

The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at St. Eugene's Congregation for those who lost their apartments in the fire.