Construction fire destroys unfinished apartment complex, post office

The extent of the fire is evident in these aerial photos

May 19, 2000
Web posted at: 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT)

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Fire caused by exploding transformers Friday destroyed at least two city blocks of wood-frame apartments under construction and a nearby post office.

The fire consumed the post office in just a half-hour after crates of mail were hurriedly removed.

"It was like one of those kid scary movies," said Teddy Roque, manager of the Hilton Hotel across the street. "It was so rapid, progressed so rapidly."

He said the 6-alarm fire took "about an hour" to consume the entire complex, and that a church across the street also caught fire. The 470-unit of luxury apartments had been scheduled to open in about two months.

A fire department official said three Tampa fire fighting units responded to the blaze, which broke out at about 9:15 a.m. in the Ybor City area of Tampa.

A Tampa policeman on the scene said the fire began when a forklift carrying A-frames became tangled in power lines, causing transformers to explode.

After the fire was put out at the complex, crews worked to extinguish flames at the post office across the street. The U.S. Postal Service earlier had evacuated the building, and crates of mail had been removed to the parking lot. The building was reduced to a hulking shell.

The Florida Highway Patrol closed both directions of Interstate 4 near the fire, and was considering shutting the eastbound lanes of I-275.

By 10:45 a.m., most of the fire had been extinguished, but the site was still smoking. Fork lifts and cranes were still aflame.

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