A fire at an apartment building on Bridge Street has displaced 12 residents, as Westbrook fire officials investigate the building’s smoke detectors.

Westbrook Fire Chief Andrew Turcotte said Monday that crews responded to 135 Bridge St. just after midnight and found heavy smoke coming from a first floor apartment. He said fire personnel contained the fire to the single unit. There are six units in the building.

However, Turcotte said, when firefighters arrived, there were no working smoke detectors in the affected apartment, and other units were also without working detectors.

Turcotte said Westbrook Code Enforcement is investigating the building Monday to determine if the remaining smoke detectors in the building were also broken, or if the smoke simply “did not reach the other units.”

“We heard from multiple tenants that their smoke alarms should have gone off, and they didn’t,” he said. “We didn’t feel, given the information we had last night, that anyone should be going back into the apartment building.”

One person in the building was treated for smoke inhalation. Turcotte said the cause of the fire is still not confirmed, but said evidence suggests it was “improperly disposed of smoking matieral.”

Riley Coffin, who lives in a building across the street, said Monday that he knows most of the tenants living at 135 Bridge St., including the tenant living in the first floor apartment. He said most neighbors noticed the fire.

John Lamb, a spokesman for American Red Cross of Maine, said Monday that the organization is working with the displaced residents “to ensure they have food, clothing, emergency shelter, and emotional support.”

Turcotte confirmed that the tenants were staying in local hotels.

Lamb said the Red Cross will also work with “community partners to help the family begin its recovery process.”

Monday’s fire is the fourth incident displacing Westbrook residents in just over a month. There have been two fires and two buildings condemned during that span.

A fire at 135 Bridge St. early Monday morning displaced 12 residents. Fire officials said they are investigating the building’s smoke detectors following the incident. Staff photo by Andrew Rice