Four people were injured after their east side apartment building caught fire early Wednesday afternoon. Two of those people were taken to the hospital. One of the occupants was pulled from their burning apartment by neighbors. The American Red Cross and apartment management is assisting 12 people who will be displaced by the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fire dispatchers received a number of calls at 1:52 p.m. that an apartment at the Desert Rose Apartments at 29 N. 28th St. was on fire and someone might still be inside the burning apartment. When firefighters arrived on scene, a two-story wood frame/stucco apartment building with eight units had fire showing from two units. Firefighters quickly evacuated approximately 16 people from buildings 25 and 26. They also found that the occupant of the burning apartment was out, but burned around the face. The man was quickly transported to University Medical Center with second degree burns on his face.
The fire from a downstairs unit, the place where investigators determined the fire started, then moved up the building and involved the second floor. Some of the people who tried to escape through the front door of their apartment were blocked by flames and had to escape through rear windows by way of firefighter’s ladders.
Twelve units were damaged by the fire At least two units were gutted; the others had either heat or smoke damage. The fire also burned through the roof. Damage was estimated at $200,000.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Investigators want to talk to the occupant of the apartment where the fire started, but because of his condition at the hospital, they will have to talk with him later.
A friend of the man burned, Rolando Fernandez, Jr, 20 years of age, was driving through the complex returning from a trip to the store and noticed the apartment on fire. He stopped his car and jumped out and yelled to building 24 for help. Fernandez then entered the burning apartment and could just barely see his friend standing next to the bed. He said flames were all around them. He grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him out of the building. By that time, Fernandez’s friend from building 24, Giuseppe Lomagino, 41, came to help and the two men banged on doors all around the building alerting neighbors of the fire. During that time, Lomagino was overcome by smoke and was taken to the hospital for minor smoke inhalation. He was treated and released. Both of the men are responsible for getting the man from the burning unit and alerting the other 16 people in the building of the fire.
Two other people were also treated for smoke inhalation and released on scene. The American Red Cross is assisting 12 people. Apartment management had enough units to immediately move displaced people into other units.