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4:04 a.m. • 5-23-12

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Apartment dweller started fire with ashes


Fire rips through Raleigh apartments
Fire rips through Raleigh apartments
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Fire and smoke tore through a Raleigh apartment building, The Enclave at Crossroads, damaging six apartments Wednesday morning. No one was injured.

The blaze began shortly before 11:30 a.m. at 1712 Crossroads Arbor Way, which is near Crossroads Plaza. At least 10 fire trucks and 65 firefighters responded to the scene as smoke billowed out of the building's roof.

Resident Scott Denny said the fire started after he took some ashes out of his fireplace and put them in a cardboard box on his balcony.

"We had some ashes out on the porch and came back and it was completely engulfed. I guess the wind had caught them,"  he said. "I mean, I checked them. They looked OK. I stomped on them. I should have put water on them, obviously, but I didn't."

After returning from a restaurant, Denny saw smoke coming from his apartment complex. His unit, along with five others, were damaged – two by fire and four by water. His 22-year-old girlfriend, Erin Grogan, was inside the apartment when the fire started.

"Next thing you know, the whole porch was engulfed in flames, so I called 911," she said. "It's tragic. I just feel bad for Scott and his brother, because they saw their house burn down (when) they were kids. Now this, so it's sad."

The Red Cross is helping residents whose apartments were damaged in the fire.

RELATED TOPICS: Cary, Raleigh, American Red Cross


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Did anyone ever see the firemen who did the show on wral,if u have a grease fire or stove fire ,they were showing people putting a fire out with an extinguisher ,only for it to relight because they left the burner on or did not put a lid on the pot.

as Barney Fife would say" dumb,dumb,dumb" ashes in a cardboard or even a plastic container?? Hellooooooo

Resident Scott Denny said the fire started after he took some ashes out of his fireplace and put them in a cardboard box on his balcony.

"We had some ashes out on the porch and came back and it was completely engulfed. I guess the wind had caught them," he said. "I mean, I checked them. They looked OK. I stomped on them. I should have put water on them, obviously, but I didn't."

After returning from a restaurant, Denny saw smoke coming from his apartment complex. His unit, along with five others, were damaged – two by fire and four by water. His 22-year-old girlfriend, Erin Grogan, was inside the apartment when the fire started.

"Next thing you know, the whole porch was engulfed in flames, so I called 911," she said. "It's tragic. I just feel bad for Scott and his brother, because they saw their house burn down (when) they were kids. Now this, so it's sad."

Here's your sign

Buckets?? Really no apartment should have a fireplace unless all tennents are fully trained on how to use and maintain it. The general public can be really clueless when it comes to common sense things or may not have had the experiences that some of us have had. I hope the folks affected by this can recover soon, and the poor guy who caused it will have to live with the shame and emabarasment of what he has done. He has learned a lesson, it is a shame that this lesson cost so much.

Furnish buckets? Make them buy buckets? How about requiring an IQ test? How about a fire extinguisher? You cant do anything with people who do not have good judgment or some "common sense". I would never put a metal bucket of ashes on a wooden deck. So even having a metal bucket it is not a good idea. You ever put a hot pan on a kitchen counter? Put the ashes in a metal bucket, then add water and then place it on concrete, bricks or anything that will not get hot and ignite. He was not very smart to say what he did. He is going to have a lot of lawsuits because of what he did especially since he has admitted his guilt.

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