Second-year Darden student Sergei Pirogov said he noticed heat and smoke on the balcony of his first floor Ivy Gardens Apartment shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday. When he looked up, he saw "flames coming from beneath the roof."
It "was very fast," Pirogov said. "In five minutes, the whole side was on fire."
Pirogov's apartment was one of six units destroyed by a fire in Ivy Gardens, a complex located off Ivy Road that is occupied predominantly by Darden and Law School students.
Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin said no one was injured in the fire.
According to Cliff Hammer, property manager for Ivy Gardens, a maintenance crew smelled smoke and called the fire department.
Pirogov said firemen arrived within five minutes after he first noticed the blaze.
Catlin also said the Seminole Trail, Crozet and Earlysville volunteer fire companies, along with one Charlottesville fire engine, helped extinguish the fire.
It took firefighters 30 to 45 minutes to control the blaze, she said.
She added that wind caused minor delays because firefighters had to keep the flames from blowing onto the grass.
Stormy Point Battalion Chief Brian Rea said this was a typical apartment fire.
He said although "none of them are easy," fires in apartment buildings are "all pretty much the same."
He added that yesterday afternoon's warm temperatures caused problems for some firefighters.
"Once it gets warmer dehydration becomes a problem," Rea said.
He explained that the heat forced firefighters to work shorter shifts in order to avoid dehydration.
Although firefighters were able to contain the fire, six apartments in the 12-unit building were rendered uninhabitable.
Ivy Gardens management worked with the Red Cross to find places where the dispossessed occupants can stay, most of whom are University students.
Pirogov said his neighbors have been "very helpful" and the Darden School was providing him with a place to spend the night.
But he said he has no long-term plans for housing.
Hammer said it will take between one and two months to reconstruct the apartments.
Three of the six burnt apartments suffered "very severe smoke and water damage."
The other three suffered less damage but still are uninhabitable, Catlin said.
Hammer said Ivy Gardens management plans to determine the extent and value of the damage today.
The fire department has not yet determined what caused the fire.
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