Pizza in toaster oven sets off massive Gwinnett County apartment fire that displaced 20

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County firefighters said 20 people are without a home Saturday night after a fire heavily damaged their apartment building just outside the city of Tucker.

The fire department said they were called out to the Somerset at the Crossing Apartments on Summerwalk Parkway around 1:22 p.m., after reports of fire coming from the kitchen of one of the first floor apartments.

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Once they got to the building, crews found a large fire at a two-story, eight-unit building. Firefighters said it took them about 20 minutes to get the fire under control. No residents were injured, but during a search of the building, firefighters said the found two dead cats on the first-floor where they believe the fire started.

Investigators said two of the buildings eight units sustained heavy damage, while the other six had minor smoke or water damage.

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Firefighters believe the fire started due to the improper use of a cooking appliance. They said the people who lived in the apartment where the fire started, told them that three people were home when the fire started and one of them had recently cooked a pizza in a toaster oven on the kitchen countertop.

Once they saw smoke coming from the kitchen, the residents said they tried putting the fire out, but were unable to do so and were forced to leave the apartment. The residents told fire investigators that the building’s smoke alarms did not work.

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The Greater Atlanta Red Cross came out to the apartments to help the people left without a home. They teamed up with apartment management to find temporary places to live and to help restore utilities to the minimally damaged part of the building.

The Gwinnett Fire Department said that a total of 20 residents,14 adults and six children, were unable to return to their home.

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