A Gainesville apartment fire destroyed one townhouse, leaving it uninhabitable, and damaged two adjacent townhouses Tuesday.
Angela Frick, the resident of unit 61 at Woodland Villas, 5950 SW 20th Ave., was moving in when cardboard boxes in the kitchen caught fire, said Carol Davis, Alachua County Fire Rescue spokeswoman.
Someone had turned on the stove burners while the electricity was off. When the unit's electricity was turned on, the burner ignited the boxes. At about 1:20 p.m., ACFR received a call alerting them about the fire.
When the firefighters got to the complex, apartment 61 was engulfed in flames.
They were able to put the fire out within 15 to 20 minutes of arriving at the complex.
Unit 61 is no longer habitable.
But people can continue to live in the two adjacent apartments, which only suffered smoke damage, Davis said.
There was $90,000 in damage to the building and $5,000 in property damage.
