An apartment fire killed one person and displaced about a dozen more in the early hours of Oct. 5.

Great Falls Fire Rescue was dispatched around 2 a.m. to a structure fire at 1701 20th St. S., which is 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, GFFR issued a second alarm for the apartment fire, meaning other firefighters were called back to duty to help respond, Chief Jeremy Jones told The Electric.

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GFFR is still triaging calls from the overnight wind event and Jones said three engine companies were called back on Oct. 5 to assist, in addition to the standard four on duty at all times.

The fire in the apartment building rekindled a few hours later and GFFR responded, Jones said.

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

“As people are waking up and seeing the damage from last night’s wind event, please be patient and know that NorthWestern Energy has been advised on many of the lines that remain down at this time. Our emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with calls and are doing an amazing job of gathering information and prioritizing emergency services to handle the most critical calls first,” according to GFFR.

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

NorthWestern crews worked through the night responding to the wind event across the region.

Wind gusts started building around 7:30 p.m. with gusts of 26 miles per hour and the temperature was 73 degrees, according to the National Weather Service office in Great Falls.

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

Winds remained in the 40 miles per hour range with a max recorded speed of 51 miles per hour at 9:25 p.m. before settling down. The peak gust was recorded as 73 miles per hour at 9:20 p.m., according to NWS.

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

GFFR was scheduled to conduct simulated single family dwelling fire training drills in the 100 block of 5th Avenue Southwest on Saturday, but all crews remained on scene with the apartment fire as of 2:30 p.m. Oct. 5 and callback crews were covering the rest of the city, according to GFFR.

In an Oct. 5 update, Jones said that GFFD, city public works and park and recreation employees were working to find and remove downed trees and hazards.

“The 911 Emergency Communications Center has seen an unprecedented amount of calls and are working diligently to prioritize and send the appropriate resources. Due to the wind event being widespread, Northwestern Energy crews are spread thin and it make take some time before all power is restored and the hazards are removed,” Jones said.

Residents are asked to use the city’s non-emergent number to report hazards and be patient “as we have every available resource committed to mitigating this event.”

The city’s non-emergent number is 406-455-8599.