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Seminole Apartment Fire Blamed On Bathroom Fan

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

Three people were displaced by a fire this morning at the Buena Vista apartment complex in Seminole.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 9, 2008

Updated: 12/09/2008 12:30 pm

SEMINOLE - A small fire in an apartment at the Buena Vista apartment complex in Seminole this morning has been tracked to a bathroom fan, so the cause has been deemed electrical in nature, Seminole fire officials say.

Three people were displaced by the fire at 1:30 a.m. at 12100 Park Blvd., said Alison Shanabrook, spokeswoman for Seminole Fire Rescue. No one was seriously injured.

Two of the three were in the apartment where the blaze broke out, Shanabrook said. They have been identified by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office as Durwood Carlton, 45, and Frank Kapzynski, 58.

The pair woke to the smell of smoke and "what sounded like popcorn popping in a microwave," the sheriff's office said.

There were flames in a part of the ceiling near an electrical exhaust fan in a bathroom, the sheriff's office said. The pair tried putting the fire out with a small fire extinguisher but failed, the sheriff's office said.

Both were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene, Shanabrook said. The other displaced person lived in an adjacent apartment that was destroyed by the fire, Shanabrook said.

The apartment below where the fire began has water damage but is salvageable.

There were functioning smoke detectors, Shanabrook said.

Apartment management is relocating the displaced residents, Shanabrook said.

A damage estimate was not available.

News Channel 8 reporter Chip Osowski contributed to this story.

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