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Saturday, February 05, 2011
Blaze Destroys Apartment Complex
Blaze rages more than two hours after firefighters arrived.
(Pat Vasquez-Cunningham/Journal
Pictures from the blaze
By Astrid Galvan
Journal Staff Writer
Residents helped each other escape a potentially deadly fire that raged through an apartment complex, causing injuries to two firefighters who fell from one floor to the next.
More than 75 Albuquerque firefighters were called out to the Royal Crown Apartments on Gibson west of San Mateo around 2:30 p.m. for the three-alarm fire, which is the largest one this year, spokeswoman Melissa Romero said.
One of the firefighters fell from the third to second floor while the other fell from the second to the first, Romero said. They were treated at University of New Mexico Hospital with right knee injuries; one also suffered minor burns to his ear.
Romero said firefighters rescued two residents and one cat from the three-story, 32,000-square-foot complex. An estimated 75 people live there. All occupants were accounted for and uninjured.
Several residents told the Journal that they went around knocking on doors and alerting their neighbors of the fire before it took control of the building.
Standing outside the burning building in a hooded sweat shirt, sweat pants and blue slippers, resident Shonee Ganadonegro said she didn't have any time to grab belongings when a relative told her to get out.
Ganadonegro said the smoke alarm had gone off in the first-floor apartment she shares with her sister and brother-in-law, but she didn't initially think anything was wrong. Soon, she was running out of the apartment. She and her family knocked on doors, warning people to get out, Ganadonegro said.
"(I feel) shock. I can't believe it; it's crazy. We don't know what we're going to do after this," she said.
Jose Ortiz, who also lives on the first floor, said he saw smoke coming from under a washer in the laundry room. He alerted his neighbors. "It just hasn't hit us yet. My main concern was trying to get everybody out," he said.
Ortiz's apartment was destroyed, he said. He was one of several residents taken by city bus to Highland High School, where shelter had been set up the day before for residents affected by the gas shortage. Still, Ortiz said he didn't know where he'll live once help runs out, or how he'll pay to recover his possessions. He said he didn't have renter's insurance.
A woman who wanted to be identified only as Glenda said she had bought a new plasma TV and computer. "I lost everything in my house. I've been in tears, but it ain't doing me no good to cry."
Most residents said the complex is typically quiet and peaceful. Several residents told the Journal they had seen the fire start in the laundry room, but AFD could not confirm that.
Early on, firefighters had to pull out and fight the fire from outside, Romero said. Part of the roof had collapsed, as well as an entire wall in the southeast end of the building. Officials said firefighters would fight the flames throughout the night, with help from the Kirtland Air Force Base Fire Department.
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