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No one hurt in apartment fire

An afternoon blaze at the Windwood Oaks complex damaged eight units. Investigators are looking for the cause.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published September 24, 2005

TAMPA - Heavy smoke and flames damaged two units at a north Tampa apartment complex Friday afternoon, but no one was injured.

Six other units at the Windwood Oaks Apartments, 14802 N Florida Ave., had minor smoke and water damage, said Hillsborough Deputy Fire Marshal Frank Fernandez.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Fernandez said.

Firefighters received a call at 1:23 p.m. reporting the fire, which began in a first-floor unit in one of the two-story buildings. Once on the scene, they called for more fire crews after seeing flames creeping through a second-floor unit and through the roof of the building.

"The fire licked out the bottom window, went into the eaves on the second-floor unit and extended through the roof," Fernandez said.

For more than an hour, Hillsborough sheriff's deputies blocked anyone attempting to enter the complex while firefighters tried to control the fire. Some residents who got phone calls from the complex's leasing office arrived and anxiously waited to see if their homes and belongings were gone.

Once the fire was out, people were allowed inside and saw that the fire was mostly contained to the middle units of one building.

Mary Dinardi, who lives in one of the end units of the building, was one of the few people inside when the fire started. She was taking a nap when a man knocked on her door and warned her, she said.

"I haven't been in yet, but I'm assuming there is water and smoke damage in my place," she said. "I didn't smell anything. I just came outside and saw that (the middle unit) was engulfed in flames. It was shocking."

[Last modified September 24, 2005, 00:59:07]