Fire hits Eastlake apartments

A neighbor across the hall from Diana Martin's second-floor unit in the Roanoke Terrace apartment building led her to safety Monday afternoon.

Her 12-year-old tabby cat, Fitzgerald, was overcome by smoke and resuscitated at the scene by Seattle firefighters.

At least three of the units in the 16-unit, four-story apartment building in the 2600 block of Eastlake Avenue East were heavily damaged by the blaze that Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said appeared to have spread from the balcony of Martin's one-bedroom unit, on the south side of the building.

The call came in shortly after 5:30 p.m. Firefighters arrived to find heavy black smoke pouring from the unit and fire extending up the building exterior to the third and fourth floors.

Martin, in her 60s, said she was watching television in the bedroom when she was roused by the neighbor, Chris Sumption, who also pulled the fire alarm in the building, which does not have a sprinkler system, according to residents. "I saw flames on my deck," Martin said.

After being resuscitated with an oxygen mask, Martin's male cat was taken to a veterinarian for treatment. "We know how important pets are to people, so we have basic pet oxygen masks in three different sizes," Fitzpatrick said.

Martin said she has lived in the building for two decades. Fitzpatrick said the fire was sparked by a cigarette discarded in a planter pot on the second-floor unit's deck. Loss had not been determined.