BRANDON, Fla. — A fire broke out Friday afternoon at a Brandon condo complex as nine roofers were working on the building, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue reports.
The dispatch center received multiple 911 calls at 2:47 p.m. reporting fire coming from the roof of the Russellwood Condominiums at 108 Clocktower Drive.
Crews were on the scene within three minutes and began an aggressive attack.
“It did spread pretty quickly so we were here within three minutes and it was from one corner to the other of the apartment complex," Hillsborough County Fire Lieutenant Danny Alvarez said.
Roofers who were working on the building shared photos and videos with 10 Tampa Bay showing flames shooting from the top of the building and a large cloud of black smoke billowing in the air.
The fire was under control within 45 minutes.
Alvarez said 16 units in the building are now "uninhabitable," mostly due to water damage. The American Red Cross is assisting the affected families.
No injuries were reported though one dog and one cat were rescued from the building.
Two firefighters were briefly treated for heat exhaustion after reporting feeling dizzy.
“The last thing we want to do is endanger our crews, so we have plenty of personnel that could replace them if they couldn’t continue fighting fire, but they were ok," Alvarez said.
"I'm just grateful that there were no injuries to the civilians, no injuries to the firefighters. We're grateful we were able to get both pets out," he continued.
