A woman narrowly escaped a fire that destroyed her home and displaced five other condominium residents Monday morning.
At 1:12 a.m. Monday, the Columbia Fire Department arrived at the fire at Park De Ville Condominiums, 2307 Park De Ville Place, in west Columbia, Battalion Chief Steven Sapp said.
An unattended candle left on an entertainment center caused the fire, Sapp said. The smoke alarm alerted the resident, Danielle Donaldson. She briefly tried to fight the fire but was forced to flee.
“She was able to escape through the front door, and that was all because of the early warning from the smoke alarm,” Sapp said. “This fire could have easily blocked her normal means of escape.”
Donaldson, who suffered a slight burn to her forearm, was evaluated by paramedics but refused medical treatment.
Upon arriving, firefighters reported heavy fire on the second floor and some fire on the first floor of the eight-unit building. The first crews on the scene observed a “flashover,” which occurs when everything in the room or building is heated to ignition temperature and simultaneously bursts into flames, Sapp said.
Flashovers are deadly to anyone without protective clothing and sometimes kill firefighters, Sapp said.
“I think we were probably pretty lucky that we didn’t have a severe injury or fatality,” Sapp said.
Firefighters contained the fire to the single condo, but the entire building sustained smoke and water damage. Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 15 minutes.
Two kittens that were in Donaldson’s home are presumed dead. The initial damage estimate is $175,000.
Donaldson graduated from MU last week and was renting the condominium, Sapp said. She had no renter’s insurance, something Sapp said the fire department encourages tenants to get.
Sapp also emphasized candle safety.
“Candles have just seen a tremendous surge in popularity in the last several years, and with that comes danger,” he said.