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Tenants living in the Majestic House Apartments in Tamaqua evacuated while firefighters responded twice Sunday (Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014) to an apartment fire on the third story.
The first incident came out just before 9:30 AM. During this response, emergency responders from Tamaqua and surrounding communities responded to a report of an apartment fire on the third story of the 7-story apartment building.
Hartz added that an older male tenant living in 2-E fell asleep while smoking. This caused the cigarette ignite the mattress he was sleeping on. The man was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital – Miners Campus for multiple burns to his body.
Tamaqua Fire Chief Tom Hartz said additional smoke detectors were installed in each apartment in recent years. ”The secondary smoke detector probably saved this man’s life,” said Hartz, who added that the apartment was heavily gutted by flames.
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During the response, between 25-30 tenants evacuated to the Tamaqua Rescue Squad, while about 25 others evacuated to the community room of the ABC Hi-Rise. Both locations are with a short distance of the Majestic House.
“I heard a lot of alarms,” said Roxanne Reenock, who has an apartment next to 2-E. “I looked outside and saw heavy smoke in the hallways. I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. That is when I grabbed my cat and went outside.”
“I knew something wasn’t right,” said Scarlett Roberts, who lives in a fourth story apartment. “I started banging on peoples’ doors to alert them of the fire.”
“I was worried for everybody because some tenants were still waking up,” added Scarlett.
Both Roberts and Reenock said that all the tenants didn’t panic, but still took the incident seriously.
Just after 12:30 PM, emergency responders were called back to the Majestic House after the fire in the same apartment started up again. Hartz said the rekindle was caused from clothes inside a metal closet of the apartment building. Only residents from the third story were evacuated during the rekindle. Hartz said it was a little hard for some firefighters to reach the third story apartment with their hoses due to the amount of people evacuating down the stairs. “During a fire in an apartment building like this, tenants are encouraged to stay in their apartments until firefighters come get them or tell them to evacuate.”
During a fire alarm in this building, the elevator will automatically come down to the first floor for emergency personnel. In addition, doors that connect certain areas of the building will automatically close in case of a fire alarm. Hartz mentioned that these things happen to allow for a more speedy attack on the fire. “Each apartment building has special firewalls designed to keep a fire contained to the apartment and from spreading to any adjacent apartments.” This was proven Sunday, as the affected third story apartment was heavily gutted by fire; while the apartments adjacent, above and below sustained very little or no damage.
He added that the cause of the fire was careless smoking. He noted that the apartment building is a smoke-free building. Responding to either fire Sunday were all Tamaqua fire companies, Tamaqua Rescue Squad, Tamaqua Police, Tamaqua Ambulance, Coaldale Fire Company and Carbon County RIT Team (which consists of firefighters from Lansford and Summit Hill).
Throughout the day, members of the Tamaqua Salvation Army and Tamaqua Volunteers group worked to collect donations of blankets, coats, sox, refreshments and snacks for the temporary evacuees. Both groups, who also provided warm refreshments to the emergency responders, stated their appreciation to numerous residents, Tamaqua Burger King, Tamaqua Diner, Tamaqua Dunkin Donuts and Tamaqua Turkey Hill for donating needed items to the evacuees and emergency responders.
“It was a great response by emergency responders and volunteer groups Sunday,” praised Hartz, who said that firefighters had both fire incidents under control within 15 minutes.
