By Ileana Morales, Times Staff Writer
Friday, January 21, 2011
TAMPA — A 20-year-old man saw smoke at a two-story apartment complex, jumped over a fence, and helped firefighters put out a fire started early Friday by a woman smoking in bed, officials said.
No one was injured.
Caroline Victory escaped unharmed and firefighters kept the fire contained to her apartment, unit 210. She was smoking in bed at about 3 a.m. when she accidentally set the bed on fire. Officials estimated the fire caused $40,000 in damage.
Kenneth Zack, 20, was outside his grandmother's building, talking on his cellphone when he heard yelling and alarms at Hyde Park Adult Living Facility, 3011 W De Leon St. As rain poured down, Zack jumped over a 6-foot chain-link fence and toward the heavy smoke. He helped evacuate residents and sprayed the growing fire with a couple of portable extinguishers ...