ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- A fire at an apartment complex in southeastern Albuquerque left nearly two dozen residents homeless and about 1,000 without heat and hot water.
The 22 occupied units in one building were destroyed or damaged in the fire Sunday afternoon. Leaping flames and thick black smoke prompted the evacuation of six nearby buildings in the same complex.
It was the third fire at the La Vita Nueva apartments in a month.
``I'm getting scared,'' said resident Maxine Cordova. ``I've lived here five years, and there's never been a fire. Now there's three all in the same spot. No one has said what happened.''
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and its unknown whether it was related to the other fires, said Albuquerque Fire Department Capt. Mike Paiz.
The fire was extinguished within a couple of hours and no injuries were reported.
However, as the Red Cross attempted to place those from the building that burned, the other tenants of the apartment complex learned that they would be without heat or hot water because of a gas leak. It could take two to three days to repair the leak, Paiz said.
Public Service Company of New Mexico spokesman Don Brown said the entire complex, which includes 21 buildings with 24 units each, runs off one gas meter. After the fire, PNM tested the system and a leak was detected.
Gas cannot be restored to the complex until the leak is found and fixed, Brown said.
That means furnaces, water heaters and stoves do not work.
Brown said a shelter was established at the Job Corps center in northwest Albuquerque for those who wished to leave their apartments. The Red Cross also worked to help place residents in hotels or with family members.
