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Smoke forces out town of Madison apartment tenants
TOWN OF MADISON -- Smoke -- but few, if any, flames -- was enough to send residents of two Mistwood apartment buildings from their homes Sunday night.
The multi-building apartment complex is at Brown Quail Court and Pheasant Ridge Trail, just off East Badger Road, in the town of Madison. The immense clouds of smoke first started pouring from the buildings at 8:20 p.m. Firefighters had the smoke contained within the hour but still were at the scene at 10 p.m., pulling on pipes and chopping with axes at other pieces near the base of the buildings. The fire call sent several engines and a rather large response team to the scene. The cause of the smoke was not yet known.
The Red Cross set up a shelter at Wright Middle School. Madison Metro provided a bus to transport 15 displaced tenants to the shelter.
Beth Vandertie, a resident of the complex for some 16 years, said she was watching "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" when she heard the fire alarm sound. She ran to her second-story balcony and saw many of her neighbors already standing on the lawn. They told her they couldn't see any flames and advised her to go into the hallway and out of the building.
"I never saw any flames. All I could see was thick, black smoke when I opened my door," Vandertie said. "I reached for the railing along the wall and followed it to the stairs. I couldn't see a thing."
Aware she would likely have to spend the night somewhere other than her apartment, she joked her next move -- when the smoke cleared -- would be to call the TV show she had been watching to ask for her own home-improvement makeover.
"I'm going to tell them they need to come and fix my place," she said. She said she's thankful she has renter's insurance.
Anyone interested in making a contribution to the local chapter of the Red Cross should call 608-233-9300 or visit the Web site www.arcbadger.org.
Doug Shore of The Capital Times contributed to this report.
Jessica VanEgeren
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Smoke billowing from a town of Madison apartment building drew a large response by firefighters to the scene at Pheasant Ridge Trail, just south of the Beltline.
