Stonington -- Pawcatuck and Westerly firefighters have extinguished a fire in an apartment at the Brookside Village housing complex on Route 1. There were no injuries.

Pawcatuck Fire Chief Tom Long said firefighters had the fire under control in about three minutes but not before it destroyed the kitchen of the unit. He said the apartment is now uninhabitable.

Several neighboring apartments have been evacuated because of heavy smoke, which firefighters are now trying to clear.

Long said a woman and a child were in the apartment when the fire started but they escaped upon hearing the smoke alarms. Police and Fire Marshal Kevin Burns are investigating the cause of the blaze, which Long said began in the kitchen.

A Westerly Fire Department ladder truck responded to the scene because the Pawcatuck ladder truck is being repaired.