A Friday night blaze at Kent Terrace apartments along Jefferson Park Avenue left four apartments uninhabitable and one tenant homeless. Despite the intense heat and smoke bellowing from the 1800 JPA complex, only one tenant had to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The apartment building is home to many University undergraduate and graduate students.
"This was a very hot fire, putting out very black smoke," said David Hartman, Charlottesville Fire Department battalion chief. An investigation into the cause of the fire by the city Fire Marshal still is ongoing. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The fire only affected the left side of the three-story, 24-apartment Garden D building. There was no serious damage to apartments on the right side of the building. Only minor damage caused by smoke and water migration occurred, Hartman said.
A 20-year-old University student, the blaze's only fire victim, was rescued from an apartment doorway and carried across the parking lot where firefighters continued aid until the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue squad arrived. The victim then was transferred to the University Medical Center. The Charlottesville Police Department was unwilling to release the name of the victim.
A responding firefighter also suffered a slight injury to his hand. He was sent to Martha Jefferson Hospital for treatment and was released later that night.
Hartman said the temperature of the fire reached at least 1200 degrees -- hot enough to melt aluminum. The intense heat whited out the thermal cameras firefighters were using to peer through the thick black smoke.
Police received the initial emergency call at 7:34 p.m., at which time three engines were dispatched to the scene. Because of the extent of the fire, Hartman said two more engines were sent to the complex. The blaze was brought under control within minutes of the engines' arrival.
Hartman said the fire department was able to clear the scene a little after 11 p.m.
The fire began on the first floor in Apt 127, located in the back left of the building. Hartman said there was heavy fire damage to all the rooms in the apartment, except in a back bedroom, which only sustained smoke damage.
There was a total loss of the contents and severe structural damage to the apartment. An assessment of property loss has not yet been completed.
"The value of the contents lost is unknown," Hartman said. A complete fire damage evaluation should be completed by the property owners, 1800 JPA Limited Partnership, in the coming days, he added.
Local residents said it was not the blaze that attracted their attention to the scene, but the large contingent of firefighters who had been dispatched.
"There wasn't really any visible smoke," said Cindy Rockholt, a Kent Terrace resident. She added there were not a lot of people from the burning building outside.
Three other apartments, two on the first floor and one on the second, were deemed uninhabitable because of smoke and water damage or from having their doors forced open. Hartman said all the tenants except one, who was subsequently sheltered by the Red Cross, were able to find alternative housing that night. Tenants were able to reoccupy the 20 other apartments of the complex.
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