Fire Department

This 911 call was dispatched as a citizen assist generated by the building owner at 3714 W. Karstens Dr. The building owner lives at this residence and requested the MFD to document a fire and resulting damage in neighboring apartment that occurred earlier in the day at approximately 5:00 a.m. The resident of the fire apartment said her son had placed a pan of water on the stove to cook some macaroni. He then went outside to smoke a cigarette and asked his mother to watch the pan of water. She fell asleep and was awakened by the smoke detector sounding in the apartment. When she entered the kitchen there was moderate to heavy smoke and she observed two hot pads on fire on the top of the stove. She believes her son turned on the wrong burner which is where the hot pads were located. The resulting damaged melted the dials for turning on the burners and burned the top of the stove. The fire was severe enough to char the adjacent wooden counter to the right of the stove, a wooden shelf above the stove and the wooden cabinet above and to the right of the stove top. The resident stated when she saw the hot pads burning she grabbed them and pulled them off the stove dropping them on the linoleum floor in front of the stove. She then poured water on them to extinguish the fire. This resulted in two burn spots on the linoleum floor. She also received burn injuries to several fingers. pads from the stove. She went to Urgent Care for treatment of the burns. The building owner said she heard the smoke alarm sounding and came to investigate. She stated she was there within two minutes ad when she entered the apartment, she encountered smoke. She saw the hot pads on the floor and when she picked up the first one, the second hot pad flared up when it was exposed to oxygen. A fire investigator was notified of the incident.