Apartment complex uninhabitable after fire in Prescott Valley
Exact cause unknown

Firefighters work a structure fire in the 3200 block of Tani Road in Prescott Valley Thursday, June 13. (Max Efrein/Courier)

Firefighters work a structure fire in the 3200 block of Tani Road in Prescott Valley Thursday, June 13. (Max Efrein/Courier)

A four-unit apartment complex in Prescott Valley is considered uninhabitable after a fire Thursday, June 13.

Firefighters responded to the complex in the 3200 block of Tani Road shortly after 2 p.m. They found an attached shed fully engulfed in flames behind the building and noted that the flames were spreading into the primary structure.

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Firefighters breach an apartment complex in the 3200 block of Tani Road in Prescott Valley during a structure fire Thursday, June 13. (Max Efrein/Courier)

“The fire started from the exterior of a shed in the backyard and climbed up the wall of the shed and then the wall of the apartment,” Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority Assistant Fire Marshal Andie Smith said. "There's no way I can say a definitive cause."

All residents of the building were safely evacuated and firefighters fought the blaze from several vantage points. Part of the operation included cutting holes in the roof of the building to ventilate the attic space.

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Firefighters ventilate the attic of an apartment complex by cutting holes in the building’s roof and tearing through the insulation during a structure in the 3200 block of Tani Road in Prescott Valley Thursday, June 13.

“It seems like they got it under control pretty quickly,” said Michael Stockes, who lives in one of the units with his wife and children. “I don’t think it was too, too horrible. It could be a lot worse. As long as my family and everyone else is okay, that’s all I really care about.”

Overall, five fire engines and a battalion chief responded to the scene.

Officers with the Prescott Valley Police Department closed off Tani Road between Yavapai Road and Florentine Road until the operation was complete.

All four families living in the units were displaced and will not be able to live in the complex again until significant repairs have been made to it, Smith said. The Arizona Crisis Team responded to the scene and connected the families to emergency relief resources in the area.

Follow Max Efrein on Twitter @mefrein, email him at mefrein@prescottaz.com or call him at 928-445-3333 ext. 1105.


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