AC unit malfunction causes fire at Cordova apartments

TAMPA (FOX 13) - For the second time in five months, dozens of residents at the apartment complex on 22nd Street North will be homeless due to fire.

Firefighters believe it was caused by an electrical malfunction in an air conditioning unit.

It started at around 6:05 p.m. and was extinguished at around 7:25 p.m.

Building 2204 of the Cordova complex at 12702 University Club Drive went up in flames only moments after resident Kendrick Ingrham got out.

"The police knocked on the window and they were like, 'Get out, get out, get out," he said. "I am good. My people are good. The dog is good. That's all I care about."

He believes his ground floor apartment will only have water damage, but those above him, according to firefighters, are a total loss.

"Just keep them in my prayers, this is unexpected," said Latidra Smart, a resident of an adjacent building.

Unexpected, if not, unprecedented.

On December 13, a grease fire at this complex, which was then named University Club, left 20 homeless. In that fire, a woman was injured when she leaped from a second-floor balcony.

"The buildings are old and they burn down quick," said Smart.

Both fires produced stunned residents who watched and recorded as their belongings were melted away.

This one took 90 minutes to get under control and left residents of eight apartments homeless.

"My reaction was I am happy I am here to talk to you right now, that is all I care about, that we are alive," said Inghram.

The Red Cross is assisting the residents who lost their homes.