About 40 Bear Valley residents were put out of their apartments tonight when a fire broke out in a top of three-story building in the Hunter Ridge complex.
No one was injured when the blaze broke out just before 7:30 p.m. in the apartments at 3481 S. Benton St. just north of Hampden Boulevard.
Melissa Morgan was in a second-floor unit when she heard a commotion overheard.
“I heard a really loud noise upstairs, which is unusual because my neighbors are unsually really quiet,” she said.
She pulled back her blinds flames licking from the apartment above her head. She ran around her apartment, collecting her 3-year-old son, Egan, and just enough clothes to get out the door.
“Luckily I was able to get a clear enough mind to put some pants on,” she said.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Champlin said the cause of the fire isn’t yet known. The flames went into attic on the west side of the building, and crews were able to stop it there.
Only two units of the 24 apartments in the building were burned, but others were damaged by smoke and water, he said. The fire took about a half hour to extinguish.
“Our troops did a good job here,” he said. “They stopped it and kept it from spreading to the rest of the building.”
About 40 firefighters responded, as well as the American Red Cross to assist those displaced. Morgan said the apartment complex also had offered to help with housing, but she would be staying with friends tonight.
