GLENDALE, Ariz. — More than a dozen people, including children, won’t be able to spend Christmas in their homes after a fire forced them out early Thursday morning.
It was around 3 a.m. when Jennifer Perkins first noticed “a lingering burning plastic smell” at her apartment near 59th and Glendale Avenues.
She didn’t think anything of it and went to bed. Two hours later, the smell was stronger and thicker. So, she called 911.
Around that same time, Perkin’s neighbor, Imagine Jones, also began to smell something burning. After looking around, Jones found heavy smoke in her bathroom and bedroom, which both had the door closed.
Jones ran outside with her seven children. As she tried to figure out what was going on, she saw the Glendale Fire Department arrive at the scene.
“There was smoke pouring out of the building,” said Jackie Bell.
Bell's apartment was one of four units impacted by smoke and water after crews battled an electrical fire they said sparked near a water heater and traveled between the walls.
Officials initially blamed the water heater, calling it "faulty," but later clarified that was not the culprit.
No flames were visible, but the damage was extensive.
“I was just cleaning up my house and I didn’t expect that I would lose everything,” Jones said. She and her boyfriend, with their kids, moved into the complex last month.
They weren’t the only ones.
“I lost everything and I haven’t been here 30 days,” Perkins said. “It’s very hard. Especially when you’re a single mother.”
The Red Cross is helping some of the families, while others rely on relatives. They all said their Christmas plans were canceled.
“I don’t have Christmas now, because I don’t have a home,” Perkins said. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Glendale Fire said no one was injured.
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