Six families displaced in Bradenton apartment fire

MANATEE — An apartment fire this morning at a Bradenton complex has displaced at least six families as flames tore through two units and smoke damaged several others.

Southern Manatee Fire Rescue firefighters are still investigating the cause of the 11 a.m. blaze at the Manatee Woods Apartments, at 34th Avenue East, just off U.S. 41.

Eight units were damaged, and at least two destroyed in the fire that left families waiting for hours in a welcome center at the apartment complex for assistance from the American Red Cross. A total of 23 people were displaced.

Red Cross officials said families in need will be given clothes and any other necessities as needed, and those displaced were brought lunch after the fire,

Milandar Thimogene rents one of the two units destroyed in the fire, living above where authorities believe the fire started. She lives in the apartment with her mother, two brothers and 9-year-old daughter.

“We lost everything, everything,” she said. “I lost all my daughter’s cheerleading pictures. I don’t even have a car key because they melted in the fire.”

The units affected by the blaze did not have sprinklers, which allowed the fire to spread quickly, according to Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Leslie Adent.

Adent said much of Manatee Woods has sprinklers, as some units were built after sprinkler code regulations were enacted.

But some of the units were built before county code mandated sprinklers.

“The units where the fire occurred were built before the sprinkler codes went into place,” said Adent. “This is your worst nightmare, a fire like this with so many people close together. We are just glad no one was hurt.”