Mom’s cigarette in bed started Lauderhill fire, daughter says

A family of five was displaced from their apartment Monday morning by an intense fire that an occupant said began with a smoldering cigarette left on a bed.

“I woke up with my kid telling me the bed was on fire,” said Tiffany Kennedy, 26. Kennedy said that she, her mother and her two children, ages 7 and 4, raced out of the apartment at 2030 NW 43rd Terrace in time to escape injury.

Kennedy said she tried to extinguish the blaze with water, but it was too hot to contain.

A video made by a neighbor, Brandon Burchett, shows thick, black smoke pouring from the window of a ground floor apartment in the eight-unit, two-story building.

Firefighters responded to the 10:20 a.m. call and found “heavy flames and smoke,” said Assistant Chief Jeff Levy of Lauderhill Fire Rescue. “We were able to quickly knock it down to keep it from spreading.”

Levy said the apartment where the fire started was completely destroyed. Smoke damage to other apartments in the building was minimal, he said.

The official cause of the fire is under investigation by the state Fire Marshal, Levy said.

However, Kennedy said the fire was started by a cigarette her mother left on the bed.

Also living in the apartment was Kennedy’s boyfriend, who was not home at the time, she said.

Levy said one occupant of the building reported a cut on the hand that was treated at the scene. There were no other injuries, he said.

Representatives of the American Red Cross were called to assist those who were displaced from the fire, officials said.

JOE CAVARETTA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The apartment where the fire started was destroyed, said Assistant Chief Jeff Levy of Lauderhill Fire Rescue.