Cigarette blamed for Fresno apartment fire

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Six families are displaced after a cigarette butt sparked a large apartment fire in East Central Fresno.

The flames broke out around noon Sunday at the Valley View Apartments on Peach and Dakota. Investigators say the fire took off in a matter of minutes. Luckily no one was injured, but there's quite a bit of damage to clean up.

Bruce Payne was coming home from Los Angeles with his wife when he got a call no one wants to get.

"My upstairs neighbor calls me and says, 'Call back, it's an emergency,' and jokingly I tell my wife, 'What? Is our apartment on fire?'" said Payne.

In the six-unit building, his apartment is downstairs. Minus the smoke and water damage, he says his apartment was spared. But three families upstairs weren't as lucky; their homes were destroyed.

"Some of them are arriving on scene now to discover that they're going to have to be temporarily sheltered somewhere else while we complete the investigation before they get their apartments back in order," said Battalion Chief Chuck Tobias with the Fresno Fire Department.

Tobias says the fire started in the back of the apartment complex because of a cigarette left near a cardboard box. He says the box caught on fire and spread up the back wall, making its way into the attic.

"The conditions are primed right now for rapid ignition and for rapid fire spread," said Tobias.

Three families downstairs don't have electricity and have to find a different place to stay Sunday night.

Because firefighters were able to get on scene quickly, the fire was contained to just one building. They're reminding people to be extra careful during these hot and dry conditions.