Apartment fire displaces 43 residents

More than 50 Hillsborough firefighters respond to the blaze that destroys a dozen units.

By JARED LEONE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 30, 2007

Hillsborough County firefighters work to extinguish the blaze at the Lakeshore Club Apartments and Townhouses on Thursday morning. Investigators said a resident's malfunctioning electronics was to blame for the fire, which caused more than $700,000 in building damages and $100,000 in residents' property losses.
	[Capt. Bill Wade | Tampa Fire Rescue]

TAMPA -- Acrid smoke filled the air. Flames shot through windows and the second floor fell to the ground like a pancake.

Firefighters battled back, but fast-moving flames Thursday morning at the Lakeshore Club Apartments and Townhouses turned a dozen apartments into rubble and ash and displaced 43 residents.

Investigators said a resident's malfunctioning electronics was to blame for the blaze, which caused between $700,000 and $800,000 in building damages and another $100,000 in residents' property losses.

The fire broke out about 7:50 a.m. at building 27 in the 3200 block of Carlton Arms Drive, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Capt. Bruce Delk said. As flames shot into the attic and leaped between units, more than 50 firefighters were called in to douse the three-alarm blaze.

"It was a pretty extensive fire. It was just fortunate that there was no one in there when it happened. They would have been injured or worse," Delk said.

The apartment building had a "common attic," meaning there were no walls extending through the attic to stop the fire from spreading, Delk said. Fire walls are required in newer buildings but not at the roughly 40-year-old Lakeshore Club complex. There are no fire sprinklers at the complex, and the county's fire code doesn't require them, Deputy Fire Marshal Steve Kaplan said.

When the first wave of firefighters arrived, flames had already engulfed the roof, Delk said. They had difficulty opening the top cap of one fire hydrant, but it didn't affect firefighting efforts, he said.

The complex's fire hydrants were inspected in January by a private contractor, said Kaplan.

In April, Hillsborough fire inspectors reviewed the contractor's inspection reports and found no problems at the building that burned Thursday. Kaplan said there were only minor fire violations found in some of the complex's other buildings.

The fire scene was total destruction, said Kathy McNabb, an American Red Cross casework supervisor.

"They lost everything," she added. "When you see what they've lost, it is truly amazing."

Lakeshore Club's management company, Harbour Realty Advisors Inc., made other apartments on the property available to fire victims, McNabb said.

Beds, food and clothes were being gathered and handed out to residents in their new units.

Thursday's fire was the second major blaze at the complex.

A 1999 fire at the community, then known as the Carlton Arms Egypt Lake Apartments, destroyed 12 units in building 23 and did more than $500,000 damage.

It also wasn't the first time that an apartment building without attic fire walls suffered heavy damage. A 2002 fire ravaged eight units at the Charleston Landings apartments in Brandon. Like the Lakeshore Club, Charleston Landings was built before the fire code made attic fire walls mandatory.

Jared Leone can be reached at jleone@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5314. Researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

[Last modified November 30, 2007, 00:47:24]