Toccara Carter had just settled in to watch TV on Tuesday night when she heard a frantic knock on the door. She didn't know who the person was and still doesn't.
"A little white woman," she said.
Whatever the woman's name, she had urgent news.
"Hey, there's smoke coming out of that house," she yelled, urging Carter to look right from the entrance of her own apartment.
She saw it: the front door open, fumes drifting, fire popping. Carter snatched the extinguisher that hangs on the living room wall before heading to her neighbor 5 feet away, "hollerin' for Pops."
The 63-year-old man has lived in the apartment on the corner of Southeast Eighth Street and Southeast First Avenue for about seven months. He started the fire.
When Carter met him, Pops was living in a tent city. She helped him move in.
Lately, though, he'd been telling her he wants to end his life; that he just doesn't care anymore. He has cancer, Carter and one of the man's relatives said, though neither one knew the specifics. But what's worse has been the alcohol. Too much drinking.
"I was so scared," Carter said. "I didn't even know what to do. I thought he was in there burned up. Burned. Up. My mind just went blank."
When she peeked inside the apartment, Carter saw that Pops "had lost himself." He was running around with a broom above his head, the top of the bristles lighted. A maroon couch was on fire. So was the brown rug.
Carter called 911 at 7:35 p.m. and started spraying the extinguisher.
The first Gainesville Fire Rescue engine was dispatched at 7:43 p.m. By the time it arrived two minutes later, Carter had already doused the flames, Lt. Keith Saunders said. Pops stood in front of the apartment, fielding questions from the Gainesville Police Department.
The man, whose real name has been withheld due to the sensitivity of the circumstances, was not burned.
He was charged with arson and possession of cannabis. Officers drove him to the Crisis Stabilization Unit at Genoa Healthcare on Southwest 13th Street on Tuesday, Sgt. Joe Raulerson said. Pops was still there as of Wednesday afternoon.
The man's niece, Gloria Lynn, lives in the same apartment complex. Her green door stares at his green door. About 30 feet of dirt and patchy grass separate the two. But she didn't know about the fire until about noon Wednesday.
She did notice a commotion. She was feeding her month-old baby, Anthony, when she looked out her window and saw people gathering by the man's door.
"But when things are going on, I don't tend to be nosy," she said.
Pop's electricity was cut off Friday, and Lynn said he stayed at her place when the temperatures dipped this weekend. But she couldn't handle him and the baby for too long. Plus, he said his electricity was coming back on soon.
Lynn wasn't comfortable having him stay too long anyway. She said he acts bipolar.
"I don't know about all that," said Carter, who added that Pops isn't close with his family members. "He's her uncle, and she didn't even come outside [Tuesday night]."
Carter said booze is the real culprit. Even after putting out the fire, she had to save Pops once more Tuesday night. With officers on the way, she wrestled a can out of his hands.
As she walked out of Pops' apartment Wednesday evening, having examined the fire's damage a day later, Carter pointed to a can of Steel Reserve lying in front of Pops' door: "Yeah, that's it."
It was crushed down the middle.
