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Austin firefighters rescue residents from high-rise fire
UPDATE: The cause for the fire has been officially listed as accidental. Officials said a candle set a Christmas tree on fire. Damages are estimated at $250,000 to the building’s structure and $100,000 to contents.
EARLIER: An 88-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman were rescused from balconies on the eighth floor of the Cambridge Tower and taken to St. David’s Hospital with orthopedic injuries, officials with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services said.
One resident was rescued from the apartment where a Christmas tree caught fire from a candle flame, but officials did not say whether that was the person taken to the hospital. The entire floor was heavily damaged from smoke, fire officials said.
Four other residents were being evaluated and may be taken to the hospital, EMS officials said.
Austin Fire Department officials said they received an automatic alarm from an eighth-floor unit at 7:46 p.m. Firefighters arrived to find smoke pouring out of an 8th floor apartment.
Firefighters evacuated 100 of the tower’s 170 residents. Officials said many of the residents were not ambulatory and needed assistance to get out of the building.
The fire was extinguished by 8:30 p.m., officials said. However, many residents were being kept on the first floor while the building was being ventilated, officials said.
Another Christmas tree caught fire just a few days ago across the street from the building, fire officials said.
Cambridge Tower was built in 1964, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records. It was converted to condominiums in 1982.
Fire department officials at the scene of the fire said the building has no sprinkler system.
Residents were allowed back into their apartments shortly before 10 p.m. and at least 20 were displaced, officials said.
EARLIER: Austin Fire Department officials are at the scene of a high-rise fire near West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 18th Street.
Officials reported that the fire was on the eighth floor of the Cambridge Tower‎, 1801 Lavaca St., and may have involved a Christmas tree.
There were no reports on injuries, but officials reported that at least one person needed to be rescued from the floor where the fire started.
Officials said they have evacuated residents from multiple floors.
