Smoke alarm allows sleeping woman to escape burning apartment

Published: Sunday, December 19, 2010, 6:18 PM ??? Updated: Sunday, December 19, 2010, 6:31 PM

MOBILE, Ala. -- A smoke alarm awoke a woman this afternoon from a nap in her west Mobile apartment, allowing her to escape as flames severely damaged the unit, officials said.
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The fire at Warren Inn, 6501 Airport Blvd., was contained to the woman’s first-floor apartment, with minor smoke damage in the apartment directly above it, according to Mobile Fire-Rescue department spokesman Steve Huffman.

No one was injured. The fire was reported shortly before 2:25 p.m.

Warren Inn is an apartment complex converted from an extended-stay hotel about a quarter-mile west of Hillcrest Road. Neighbors told the Press-Register all the units at Warren In have one entrance, directly to the outside.

Huffman said the occupant, Jeanette Previto, told fire investigators she awoke to discover a fire in her kitchen. He said she was sleeping in the front of the apartment, so she did not have to fight her way through the fire to escape.

Huffman added, “With the amount of damage in that room and the fact she was asleep, she’s very fortunate to get out of that room.”

Investigators said the fire started on the stove, according to Huffman. He added that Previto had been cooking earlier in the day and did not remember what time she lay down to take her nap.

The first crews to arrive reported heavy smoke and flames from the unit; a second alarm was sounded but canceled about 10 minutes later.

The destroyed unit was on the far left on the first floor in the three-story building facing Airport Boulevard. Several other similar structures at Warren Inn run down a drive south of the boulevard.

A neighbor, Bobby Bairefield, expressed surprise at how quickly the fire grew. “By the time we got around to the front, the fire was shooting up about to the third floor,” he said.

Bairefield also said the fire department’s response was very fast. “In two minutes, maybe three minutes, the fire department was here. I’ve never seen them get anywhere this quick.

Bairefield said a red Ford pickup truck parked near Previto’s apartment received damage to its paint, but the truck was quickly moved as the firefighting operation unfolded.
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