Fire Department

Ladder 7 was dispatched for smoke in a large apartment building. En route, dispatch advised it was a kitchen fire that was extinguished. A witness met L7 and said smoke was coming from an apartment unit. He said he forced the door open, found no one home, and smoking food in an oven. L7 entered and found a smoke-filled apartment and a pan still in the oven with extremely charred food. A second witness said he also had entered the apartment and found the burning food on the stove and shut all controls to the off position. The second witness also said that some of the electric burners on the range top were bright red. The building manager arrived to secure the door that had been forced open. The apartment and attached hallway area were ventilated with the ejector fan. The occupant of the apartment arrived a reported that she had turned everything off, but that the stove had been malfunctioning and she had reported it to building management. A fire investigator was called for follow-up.

BY
WITNESS #1. AFTER USING THE SMOKE
EJECTOR FAN TO CLEAR THE APT AND
ATTACHED HALLWAY AREA, THE OCCUPANT
ARRIVED ( F/B J.D. APT. #203 ) TO HER APT.
ALONG WITH WITNESS #4 ( F/W C.S. APT #205 ).
OCCUPANT STATED THAT SHE LEFT THE APT.
AT APPRX. 15:45 PM AND HAD MADE SURE ALL
CONTROLS ON THE OVEN/RANGE WERE IN THE
OFF POSITION ALONG WITH A STATEMENT BY
WITNESS #4 CONFIRMING THAT STATEMENT BY
SAYING "I SAW HER SHUT EVERYTHING OFF
BEFORE WE LEFT". OCCUPANT THEN STATED
THAT SHE HAD COMPLAINED TO BUILDING
OWNER FOR THE PAST 2 TO 3 MONTHS ABOUT
THE OPERATION OF THE OVEN AND RANGE
ALONG WITH A MALFUNCTIONING LIGHT
FIXTURE IN THE KITCHEN AREA THAT "POPS"
WHEN IN OPERATION. OCCUPANT BECAME
VERY PERSISTENT THAT THESE ITEMS HAD
BEEN BROUGHT TO THE OWNERS ATTENTION
AND HAD RECEIVED NO FOLLOW-UP TO THIS
POINT AND WAS CERTAIN THAT TODAY'S
L7
1