Gainesville Fire Rescue responded to two building fires in the same apartment complex hours apart Tuesday.
Firefighters first responded to a call Tuesday morning from an eight-unit apartment complex located at 635 SW 11th Lane and found a fire in the downstairs laundry room that had already been extinguished.
About two hours later, while a GFR investigator examined the laundry room, another fire broke out, this time in an upstairs unit.
At 10:49 a.m., firefighters returned to the apartment complex and contained the fire to one room. The fire damaged a mattress and clothing, said GFR acting Lt. Nick Gonzalez.
No one was inside the apartment, he said, and no one was injured.
GFR District Chief Richard Saulsberry said the unit’s tenant was being evicted and hadn’t moved out yet. He added the department has not determined the cause of the fires or if the incidents were connected.
Resident Gina Davis called the fire department when she smelled smoke wafting through the hallway of her bottom-story apartment.
Davis, 46, said her cousin woke her up to talk about the smell.
“The odor was so strong,” she said.
After firefighters cleared the scene for the first fire, Davis went back into her apartment until she had to dash outside again when a fire inspector evacuated the building.
