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Fire causes $150,000 damage at complex

Four Royal Ridge families have to relocate.

By MELANIE AVE
Published November 26, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - An electrical problem with an air handler apparently ignited a fire at the Royal Ridge apartment complex early Saturday morning, displacing at least four families.

No one was injured, but one man, Timothy Holland, 29, was taken to a hospital for an unrelated medical problem after he evacuated the building, said St. Petersburg fire Lt. Rick Feinberg. Holland was treated and released from St. Petersburg General Hospital.

Damage was estimated at $150,000. Fire units from St. Petersburg, Lealman, Pinellas Park and Seminole responded to 7550 39th Terrace N about 8 a.m. The fire was out about 45 minutes later.

In midmorning, several residents stood around the building wearing their pajamas and dazed expressions. Some said they were awakened by the smell of smoke. Four two-story units were evacuated because of fire and smoke damage, and four other bottom-level units for water damage.

Police officers blocked off 38th Avenue for about two hours.

Feinberg said the fire started inside a closet where the air handler was located in the second-floor apartment rented by Holland and his wife, Anna, who was working at the time. Fire shot out the apartment's roof and knocked out windows in two units.

"There was a whole bunch of smoke," said Adrian Aguilar, 24, whose unit was across the hall from where the fire started.

"It was full of smoke," he said through an interpreter.

"I woke up, and I smelled smoke," said Sue Ann Paszkowski Green, 46, of Stone Mountain, Ga., who was visiting her 20-year-old daughter, Ciara Green. "I knew it was too early to be barbecuing."

A short time later, smoke started coming through the walls.

The American Red Cross was assisting the displaced residents.

Royal Ridge manager Nilsa Garcia said four families were going to have to move, and the complex was relocating all of them to other units.

"We are taking care of our residents," she said. "Our No. 1 concern is for our residents."

But Green said she would have to find housing elsewhere because she was moving out in three weeks and the manager would not accommodate her.

Feinberg said an investigation into the fire's cause is continuing but an initial inquiry points to a problem with the air handler.

Melanie Ave can be reached at 727 893-8813 or mave@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 25, 2006, 23:50:02]