Blaze Burns East EP Apartment
EL PASO, TX – El Paso Fire Investigators say a computer in one apartment left on overheated and caused nearby papers to catch fire igniting a massive apartment fire.
Lt. Mario Hernandez of the El Paso Fire Marshall’s office said investigators determined the point of origin for the fire to be a desk where the residents had left a laptop computer on though he could not speculate if the computer contained a Sony made battery which had been recalled by several manufacturers in mid-2006 fordanger of overheating.Fire officials say the blaze broke out just before 9pm Thursday night at the Camino Real apartments on Yarbrough and Album. Witnesses tell ABC-7flames and heavy smokepoured out of the apartmentbefore the EPFD showed up.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire, but not before it destroyed at least one apartment. Two other units got heavy smoke damage. A witness says, “Actually the flames coming out of the window andI just heard all this shattering, so I just ran back andI told everybody that was in the back of the apartment to just get out because it’s burning real bad.”
Officials saya man and his adult son lived in the burned apartment, but add that neither was home at the time. Emergency crews say no one was injured, though Lt. Mario Hernandez said investigators estimate the damage to be upwards of $80,000.
