Fireworks may be cause of Mesa, Scottsdale fires

Two fires in the East Valley may have been sparked by late-night Fourth of July fireworks shows, according to fire officials.

A firefighter was hurt and 20 renters displaced in an early morning apartment blaze in Mesa, and a garage fire in Scottsdale may have been started by out-of-control fireworks.

Spent fireworks were found in the courtyard of the apartment complex at 901 S. Country Club Drive, where the Mesa fire began very early Saturday morning, said fire Capt. Jeff Stieber.

“There was a lot of fireworks around, but they’re not sure (of the cause),” he said. “People were having a heyday.”

By 4 p.m. Saturday, the apartments surrounding the Mesa fire were able to be searched and belongings salvaged by neighbors, who were put into temporary apartments in the same complex.

Sanford Mosley, 65, lives below where the fire started and was cleaning out his apartment to transfer to another.

“The fire was really going up in the corner of the roof,” Mosley said. “They did a good job putting it out.”

Mosley said he heard people lighting off fireworks, but said the noise ended about an hour before the fire started.

Another resident, 16-year-old Liza Ochoa, said she was outside while people were setting off fireworks in the area.

Ochoa said people were setting them off behind the home and in the parking lot of the apartment complex, but nowhere near the fire.

“I saw a little flame and I ran and knocked on everyone’s door,” Ochoa said.

The blaze began on the balcony of a third-floor apartment and spread to a neighboring unit, Stieber said. The apartment’s occupant was not home.

As many as 80 firefighters were called out to fight the two-alarm fire.

One firefighter suffered heat-related injuries and was taken to a hospital, Stieber said. That firefighter was treated and released, and is going to be OK, Stieber said.

Eric Tomlimson, 30, lived directly below the burned apartment and called his own home “wasted — it’s ruined.” Many of his belongings were destroyed, but he was able to enter the apartment to grab his laptop computer while the upstairs apartment was ablaze.

Caitlin Suppa, 18, said she was visiting a friend in the complex when the fire began. Suppa’s friend’s fiance told them that drunk people were lighting fireworks in the area.

In all, two third-floor apartments were significantly damaged by fire and four apartments below them were damaged by water.

The American Red Cross Grand Canyon Chapter was helping people with food and clothing, Stieber said.

A Scottsdale garage fire may have been started by fireworks that were set off and placed back inside the garage of an East Mary Katherine Drive home.

The resident told authorities that he believed they were extinguished.

The investigations are ongoing.