A Lauderhill apartment fire that caused heavy damage to one unit and water damage to neighboring apartments may have been a case of arson, according to fire investigators.
Lauderhill Fire Rescue was called to the second floor of the Parkwest Apartments on the 1900 block of Northwest 46th Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, said Capt. Jerry Gonzalez.
“Police were at that location a few hours earlier for a domestic [dispute] call,” he said. “We received reports of 911 calls coming from neighbors seeing heavy black smoke coming from this apartment.”
Crews arrived to find heavy flames and smoke billowing out the front door and windows. They extinguished the fire within 20 minutes, he said.
The two residents living in the burned out apartment were not home when firefighters arrived, Gonzalez said.
“We haven’t been in contact with anybody that lived in the apartment yet,” he said.
There were no injuries and residents of nearby apartments were evacuated during the fire but were allowed to return to their homes.
“Nobody’s been displaced.” he said. “The fire was contained to that one apartment.”
Fire marshals are investigating what sparked the blaze.
Lauderhill police remained at the apartment complex during the early morning hours Wednesday in case anyone returned.
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