Candle sets unit ablaze at UA-area apartment complex
About 40 people were evacuated from The Block House apartment complex early yesterday morning after an unattended candle started a fire in one of the units.
The fire started at 2:41 a.m. at the apartment complex at 1920 N. First Ave. and did not cause any serious injuries, said Capt. Paul McDonough, public information officer for the Tucson Fire Department.
The department received the call at 2:45 a.m. and the fire was under control by 3:04 a.m., McDonough said. He said the estimated damage was $50,000, which included the damage in the unit that burned, smoke damage to the units on each side and water damage to the apartment below the fire.
The Block House apartment complex has 88 units, which house 188 residents, and Camille Jehle, a leasing consultant for the apartments, said more than 90 percent of the residents are UA or Pima Community College students.
The fire destroyed most of the rooms in the three-bedroom second floor apartment where it started.
Darrenn Jackson, a creative writing senior, lives below the apartment where the fire started, and was waiting to get back into his apartment yesterday morning.
He said he was asleep when a fire alarm went off, and his first reaction was annoyance, but one of his roommates had gotten up and saw smoke coming from the apartment above them.
"Initially what woke him up was water dripping in his room from above," Jackson said.
At about 4 a.m., Jackson didn't know how much damage his apartment had suffered.
McDonough said the fire department wants to get the message out that people need to be careful.
"Especially with the holiday season, just remember, never leave a candle unattended when you leave the room," he said.
The two-alarm fire brought 42 firefighters to the scene, and McDonough said the response was determined by the size of the building and the number of potential injuries.
Two people were treated and released at the scene for smoke inhalation, and one firefighter suffered from a non-life threatening injury to the knee, McDonough said.
"It could have been a lot worse," he said.