Apartment fire displaces dozens

Dozens of residents of an apartment complex in Northeast Albuquerque were displaced Tuesday evening after one of the units caught fire — a blaze sparked by a cigarette.

The Albuquerque Fire Department responded to the call at the Solar Villa apartments at 1135 Texas NE, near Pennsylvania and Mountain, around 6:15 p.m. and found a “fully involved apartment fire on the third floor,” said agency spokeswoman Melissa Romero.

She said the fire was contained within 20 minutes and one person was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. That person was in stable condition.

Investigators determined the fire was accidental, Romero said. “A resident left a lit cigarette near clothing that ignited,” she said.

Due to extensive water damage to the structure, residents — many of whom are elderly and disabled — had to be moved.

Romero late Tuesday said 65 people and 20-plus pets had been evacuated and were “staying warm” in a city bus parked beside the complex. Neighboring Hayes Middle School was also opened as a shelter for those displaced.

Romero said the American Red Cross was on its way to assist with housing and any other needs they may have.

One of those residents, Flora Roybal, said she was asleep in her fourth-floor apartment when the fire alarms blared.

“I thought it was going to be something small,” she said.

But Roybal said she knew it was serious when she heard yelling and opened her door to a hallway “full of smoke.”

Roybal grabbed her two dogs, Tiny and Mommagirl, along with an elderly neighbor, and they made their way to the first floor past scores of firefighters.

“The main concern was my home,” she said. “It looked like it was all going to burn down.”

Afterward, Roybal, who has lived in the building for nine years, stood in the parking lot beside her dogs — all three dressed in pajamas — and worried whether she would be allowed back inside Tuesday night.