Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential Pensacola, FL – Fire at senior apartment building contained with help from sprinkler system June 19, 2016 viking210 Nearly 100 residents of a senior living complex in Ensley had to be evacuated because of an apartment fire Thursday morning. Around 11:26 a.m., Escambia County received a 911 call reporting smoke and flames visible at the Johnson Lakes Apartments in the 1400 Block of East Johnson Avenue. Responding firefighters were able to contain and extinguish the fire quickly, but the blistering heat outside created a whole new set of problems. The National Weather Service reported heat index values of more than 100 degrees Thursday. Residents of the four-story, 160-unit apartment complex had to be loaded onto air-conditioned Escambia County Area Transit buses while firefighters checked every apartment for damage or stragglers. All told, two people were transported to West Florida Hospital (for heat exhaustion and breathing difficulties respectively), at least four people were displaced, 88 people were evaluated and temporarily placed on buses, and six people were found sheltering inside the building, according to county officials. “The fire itself was relatively minor in nature, but the pure size of the building is a bit of a challenge,” said Deputy Fire Chief Paul Williams. “We had to ensure residents were evacuated or sheltered in a safe portion of the building.” Williams said firefighters also had to assist some residents out of the building because of their limited mobility. In the parking lot outside, people clustered together in small patches of shade along a low-stone wall. Several sat in wheelchairs, leaned on walkers or pulled oxygen tanks behind them as they waited for ECAT buses to arrive. A team of Red Cross workers handed out bottles of water to tenants and firefighters, urging apartment residents to hurry into the air-conditioned buses as they became available. Though most praised the response of the rescue personnel, a few grumbled about the high temperatures outside. “It’s hotter out here than it was in there,” one person remarked. Escambia County Fire Rescue personnel from all over the area responded, and they were backed up by crews from Pensacola, the U.S. Navy, Pace and Avalon. Once the fire was under control, they set about the arduous business checking the status of every apartment. The fire originated in an apartment on the second floor, activating a sprinkler in the apartment, officials said. Williams said the State Fire Marshal’s Office is working to determine the cause. Jessie Brown, who lives on the second floor, said he never saw flames, but was alerted to the fire by the hubbub out in the hallway. Waiting outside, he said he was worried about what the water had done to his belongings. I dread going back in there now and looking at my apartment,” Brown said. Williams said Thursday evening that officials believed most residents would be able to return to their homes that night. He also said approximately four units were temporarily uninhabitable, but that occupants could potentially be housed elsewhere in the complex until repairs were complete. Jerry Kindle, CEO of the American Red Cross of Northwest Florida, said Thursday evening the organization assisted 30 people from 29 units with clothing, lodging, food or other needs. He credited the organization’s volunteers for coming together so quickly in a time of need. “The Gulf Coast is a giving community,” Kindle said. “The total number of staff that showed up was two people, the rest were all volunteers.”
