Another fire at aging Tempe apartment complex

An apartment fire Saturday morning in Tempe injured a man and displaced at least nine others at a complex with a history of serious and sometimes deadly fires, a Tempe fire official said.

The blaze underlines the need for older apartments, such as Lakefront at West Bay where the fire broke out, to install fire sprinklers even though the city doesn’t require them, said fire investigator Mike Reichling.

“We lost a person in that same building a few years back,” which was the second death at Lakefront at West Bay in the past decade, Reichling said. “We’ve had a number of incidents in this complex.”

No one with the apartment complex management could be reached for comment.

The man injured Saturday, whose name was not released, was fortunate to escape with minor burns, Reichling said. “He would have been killed today if he didn’t happen to wake up,” he said

The man was taken to Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix.

The fire began before 9 a.m. in the man’s apartment when he fell asleep with a cigarette in hand, Reichling said.

When fire crews arrived, they found beakers and other lab equipment in the apartment. Fearing a possible chemical fire, they called for extra crews.

The equipment was being used to reload gun ammunition, Reichling said.

Fire crews found weapons and ammunition in the apartment, he said. Authorities do not believe the man was doing anything illegal.

The fire was contained to one apartment, though water damaged several others.

The American Red Cross Grand Canyon Chapter helped four displaced families with food, clothing and linens, said an organization spokeswoman.

The Tempe Fire Department will try to convince managers of the nearly 40-year-old apartment complex to install sprinklers in its units, Reichling said. “We call them 'survivable’ if they had just had a sprinkler.”