Published: Feb. 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM PST|Updated: Feb. 1, 2025 at 9:20 PM PST
AHWATUKEE, AZ (AZFamily) — 16 people are without a home after an apartment fire broke out in Ahwatukee Saturday afternoon.
Around 3 p.m., crews from five different cities from across the responded to fight the second-alarm fire near 48th Street between Warner and Ray roads.
When crews arrived, they found heavy flames and smoke coming from the second floor of the complex.
Firefighters worked to fight the flames while clearing the units of any potential residents.
As they were trying to battle the blaze, crews reported that the fire moved into the attic and the roof was beginning to collapse. It was then that the fire was upgraded to a second alarm.
Crews started using a defensive strategy to fight the flames, including ladder trucks.
“We were all horrified and really scared. My mom was hyperventilating. I couldn’t breathe. My dad was really panicked. My sister was crying, she was scared,” said Adrian Martinez.
He and his family lost just about everything.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m trying not to tear up right now,” he said.
Martinez said he was heading out on a walk with his dad in a nearby park Saturday afternoon and was shocked to see smoke when they opened the door.
“I walk outside and look up, look at my apartment and it’s on fire. The whole thing’s in a blaze,” he said. “We weren’t expecting it. We didn’t get a knock on our door. Our fire alarms didn’t go off. We didn’t smell it. We didn’t have a warning.”
Martinez immediately jumped into action by waking up his sister and getting his mom, who is in a wheelchair, to safety.
“She broke her back like a week and a half ago, so it’s been a hard week and this just made it worse,” said Martinez.
He’s grateful they have each other and thought to grab medication and personal documents, but there wasn’t time to save anything else.
“We had less than two minutes to get in, get out, get our family. Less than two minutes later the house is completely burned, it’s already collapsing,” Martinez said.
After firefighters got the flames under control, he was happy to be able to reach inside his window and retrieve his laptop.
“That’s our life, that’s two years of our lives. That’s all of our stuff, thousands of dollars worth of materials, clothes, sentimental items, TVs, just stuff that we put our lives into get, is gone in less than two minutes,” he said.
Martinez said they planned to re-sign their lease this month and as they look toward what’s left, their future is uncertain.
“Our lives are changed. We went from relaxing and trying to do bills, and now we have no place to stay. We don’t have a home,” said Martinez.
The Community Assistance Program was sent to the scene to help the affected families.
No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Firefighters from multiple cities are on the scene of a second alarm apartment fire near 48th St. and Warner Rd. At this time crews are in a defensive operation. The PIO is on scene and will update soon. pic.twitter.com/Br5QWzVKrp
— Phoenix Fire Dept. (@PHXFire) February 1, 2025
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