The apartment where the fire started was dark because of the lack
of electricity, which made it relatively easy for people standing in the
parking lot, level with the apartment’s window to notice the dancing flames
as they grew. One eyewitness said she saw the flames low on the floor and
then they got higher. The onlookers’ concern was reinforced when the
tenant fled the apartment, saying there was a fire. Her detector was
alarming at this time.
A man carried a bucket of water into the apartment of origin and
shouted that it was a fire “for real.” There was growing commotion from
people becoming aware of the fire.
A 17-year-old boy came out of apartment #216, above the
apartment of origin, and saw and heard the man shouting. He ran in, had
his mother call the Fire Department and then ran out banging on doors
and yelling, “Fire, fire for real, get out, get out.”
His mother was the first to call the Fire Department. It was
estimated bv the Fire Department’s reconstruction of the timeline of events
that this first report occurred about 15-20 minutes after the fire started.
Several of the people who initially knew about the fire did not call the Fire
Department because they assumed others had already called.
The manager of the unit, who happened to live on the third floor
almost directly above the apartment of origin, came down to see what the
commotion and shouting was about. She started calling to people to get
out, and then went to the apartment complex office to call the Fire
Department. Her call was the second to come in.
The 17-year old boy proceeded to pull the manual alarm, which set
horns off in every unit. About this time the window of the bedroom where
the fire started blew out, and heavy flames rolled out.
At first, few people responded to the alarms. The apartment
complex had had many false alarms in the past, and most people thought
this was just another one. Even when people believed there was a fire, it
seemed far enough away from their unit to not be an immediate worry.
While some people did leave their apartments, many did not until they
were directly threatened by smoke or flames. There were many close calls
of people just getting out or jumping from balconies or windows to escape
the flames throughout the incident.
The smoke alarm in the apartment of origin was inconsequential.
Many other smoke alarms also went off; in some cases they helped
convince people that there was a real fire -- something not usually
mentioned as a benefit of detectors.
Next » Fire Spread
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