Copyright 2006 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
Fire rips through apartment building
By VALERIE KALFRIN
Tampa Tribune (Florida)
TAMPA — A three-alarm fire at an apartment building Monday bedeviled firefighters for about an hour as strong winds pushed the flames through the building’s attic, disintegrating the roof.
Tampa firefighter Dwanue Johnson, 33, suffered a mild head injury in the fire at Watermans Crossing, 4515 N. Rome Ave., after a ceiling collapsed, Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Jace Kohan said.
Johnson, who joined the department in 2004, was treated at St. Joseph’s Hospital, where officials listed him in stable condition Monday night. Kohan said Johnson’s injuries were not life-threatening.
The apartment building — part of a complex built in 1973 — had no sprinkler system, which could have kept the flames in check until fire crews arrived, Kohan said.
Newer building codes require a three-story structure to have a sprinkler system, but because of its age, the complex did not have to comply with that code, Kohan said.
About 30 to 40 firefighters struggled to control the blaze, which poked into the attic from a second-floor town house, spewing smoke seen as far away as Brandon.
The fire began about noon, Kohan said. The cause was undetermined Monday evening, but Kohan said the fire was not deliberately set.
When the fire began, the National Weather Service reported northeast winds at Tampa International Airport at 13 mph, gusting up to 21 mph. Wind streamed into the building’s attic through ventilation tubes, carrying the fire “clear through to the other end,” Kohan said.
Resident Jacqueline Gilley, 43, called a neighbor at work to tell her the building was on fire, then stood outside crying. “All my stuff is gone,” she said, such as memorabilia from when her late brother, Otis Rodgers, played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1970s. “This is a nightmare.”
Gilley was among about 30 residents who were displaced by fire, smoke or water damage. Samantha Crawford, who lives at the complex with her mother and 4-year-old daughter, returned from washing her car to find the building burning.
“I normally would have been there sleeping,” she said.
City code enforcement records show residents complained six times in 2005 about the complex, reporting roof leaks, garbage piles, electrical problems and no smoke detectors. Officials said there are no active code violations at the property.
This was the second Tampa apartment fire within 12 hours Monday. An electrical failure in a heater at 6417 N. Armenia Ave. about 4 a.m. sparked a fire in one apartment, displacing four people, Kohan said.