FAIRBANKS -- When Jose Martinez heard pounding and the shout of “fire” at 2:30 Monday morning, he threw on some clothes and woke his wife.
Bundling up his 7-week-old baby and a 3-year-old, Martinez packed the kids into the truck.
Racing back into his University Park Condos apartment, he grabbed a few diapers and a small safe securing the family’s most important papers. Visible flames forced out heat so dense he shielded his head as he ran to the parking lot.
That’s about all he has left that isn’t saturated with thick smoke and ashy water after four apartments above his burned Monday.
University Fire Department battalion chief Jim Styers said eight families lost their homes in the blaze. A sturdy fire wall prevented flames from spreading into other parts of the complex at 658 Fairbanks St.
Crews took the call a few minutes past 2:30 a.m., reaching the scene to find flames reaching above the roof and two men trapped in a second-story unit.
Firefighters raised a ground ladder for a rescue.
“Within 11 minutes we had them out of the building and they were on their way to the hospital,” Styers said. The men were not burned, but likely suffered from smoke inhalation and anxiety, he said. A third person was also transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
Styers spoke with the second man to be rescued.
“He was saying as he was coming out the window there were flames coming out over his head — that’s how close it was,” Styers said. “They were pretty excited to be alive.”
Joseph Roland Gagnon lived in an apartment directly below the destroyed units. He couldn’t say enough about the firefighters and law enforcement officers who were on the scene within minutes.
“It was a well-performed, professional response,” he said Monday afternoon, sitting outside the charred units as residents packed out what belongings they might be able to salvage. “They did one hell of a job.”
Although fire authorities said the blaze remained under investigation, several residents had heard an overturned electric fan may be a potential culprit.
Regardless of the cause, Martinez was thankful he had purchased renter’s insurance about six months ago, a simple buy that cost $19 per month, and is proving to be worth every penny.
“Get it,” he said, hauling loads of electronic equipment, a baby swing and some clothing from the gray, soaked unit Monday afternoon. “It’s worth it.”
Bundling up his 7-week-old baby and a 3-year-old, Martinez packed the kids into the truck.
Racing back into his University Park Condos apartment, he grabbed a few diapers and a small safe securing the family’s most important papers. Visible flames forced out heat so dense he shielded his head as he ran to the parking lot.
That’s about all he has left that isn’t saturated with thick smoke and ashy water after four apartments above his burned Monday.
University Fire Department battalion chief Jim Styers said eight families lost their homes in the blaze. A sturdy fire wall prevented flames from spreading into other parts of the complex at 658 Fairbanks St.
Crews took the call a few minutes past 2:30 a.m., reaching the scene to find flames reaching above the roof and two men trapped in a second-story unit.
Firefighters raised a ground ladder for a rescue.
“Within 11 minutes we had them out of the building and they were on their way to the hospital,” Styers said. The men were not burned, but likely suffered from smoke inhalation and anxiety, he said. A third person was also transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
Styers spoke with the second man to be rescued.
“He was saying as he was coming out the window there were flames coming out over his head — that’s how close it was,” Styers said. “They were pretty excited to be alive.”
Joseph Roland Gagnon lived in an apartment directly below the destroyed units. He couldn’t say enough about the firefighters and law enforcement officers who were on the scene within minutes.
“It was a well-performed, professional response,” he said Monday afternoon, sitting outside the charred units as residents packed out what belongings they might be able to salvage. “They did one hell of a job.”
Although fire authorities said the blaze remained under investigation, several residents had heard an overturned electric fan may be a potential culprit.
Regardless of the cause, Martinez was thankful he had purchased renter’s insurance about six months ago, a simple buy that cost $19 per month, and is proving to be worth every penny.
“Get it,” he said, hauling loads of electronic equipment, a baby swing and some clothing from the gray, soaked unit Monday afternoon. “It’s worth it.”
{a policy is as inexpensive as $6 a month)