A woman and her 3-year-old granddaughter made a quick exit over their back fence Friday afternoon when they opened their front door and were greeted by a wall of flame.
Carolyn Knowland and the girl suffered no injuries, but the outside of their home at Tanglewood Village apartments was badly burned. The fire was apparently started by cable television workers from Fiber Logic Inc.
"I was so scared," she said. "There was no way I could go out the front. It was too bad."
Residents at a nearby pool helped them over the fence.
The workers were using a torch to heat a wiring tube at 1:40 p.m. when a nearby juniper tree was ignited. The tree, a few feet from the entry to the home, pushed fire up the two-story wall. Twenty feet away, brush in an open field also caugt fire. It was quickly brought under control.
Firefighters from Carson City and Nevada Division of Forestry attacked the flames from the outside of the building and were able to keep interior damage to a minimum. Battalion Chief Richard Chrzanowski said the three-bedroom apartment suffered smoke damage.
"The damage was considerable outside, minimal inside," he said. "Juniper is not one of the bushes that fares well in a fire." Three juniper trees burned.
He said the fire in the field was likely started by sparks from the apartment blaze, but fire investigators are looking into reports there were some children in the area.
Neighbors Douglas and Pat Goff were inside their apartment two doors down in the 900 block of Little Lane when they were told to evacuate.
"I thought it was the one next to us," Pat said. "They just knocked on the door and told us to get out."
Barefoot, Douglas didn't have time to put his shoes on.
Fiber Logic Inc. and apartment management offered to provide temporary accommodations for Knowland, but she decided to stay despite the damage, a Tanglewood worker said.