A seemingly common item caused a large apartment fire in Mesa on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Mesa Fire & Medical Department, an electric scooter caught on fire inside a living room at an apartment near Country Club Drive and Brown Road around 1 p.m. The flames quickly spread inside the unit.
The fire was then upgraded to a first-alarm, with more firefighters and resources requested to battle the blaze. Crews were forced to cut a vent hole into the roof to put out the fire.
Crews contained the flames to the unit, which sustained heavy damage. “There was a big fireload. Electric scooters burn very, very fast and hot. We did have some of those issues to deal with,” said Capt. Chris Tiller with Mesa Fire & Medical Department. “The holes that we cut in the roof are ventilation. It’s to get the smoke and the heat up and out of the unit we’re in.”