Early morning apartment fire sends one to hospital
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Heavy smoke and flames engulfed a westside apartment unit near the 2700 block of north Balboa Avenue at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday,Sept. 29. Tucson firefighters responded and found the unit vacant.
Web Producer: Taylor Avey
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Smoke and flames engulfed a westside apartment unit, sending one person to the hospital Saturday.
Firefighters responded to an apartment fire in the 2700 block of north Balboa Avenue around 5:30 a.m. Saturday after multiple 9-1-1 calls were made to report the fire, according to Capt. Barrett Baker with the Tucson Fire Department.
Crews found a fully-engulfed unit and quickly got to work evacuating all residents from the complex and extinguishing the flames so as to try and contain the blaze to a single unit.
Firefighters then entered the flaming unit to look for occupants while other crews cut a hole in the roof of the unit to reduce temperatures and increase visibility inside the unit.
Firefighters were able to get the fire under control in about 10 minutes.
No firefighters were injured during the effort and Red Cross was not called to the scene. One resident who lived inside the damaged apartment, was transported to the hospital for further medical evaluation.
All other residents were allowed back in their units.
During the initial investigation, firefighters were able to discern that the fire started near the front door. The accidental fire might have started from a resident improperly extinguishing smoking material or an electrical malfunction.
The damage is estimated at $75,000.
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