Fire rips through Marco Island condos

MARCO ISLAND, Fla. – A fire ripped through a condo on Hartley Avenue Wednesday, forcing neighbors to evacuate.

The fire caused major smoke damage and the heat was so intense, it melted the blinds off the windows.

Bonita Monson who lives next door tells WINK News she heard loud banging around 12:30 in the afternoon.

“I said ‘oh they must be redoing something upstairs,’ and I went outside to get my mail and it was black smoke coming out of there. So, I called 911,” said Monson.

When Marco Island firefighters arrived on scene, smoke was billowing from the windows. Monson and a friend evacuated their unit. Her friend was transported to the hospital with breathing problems, but is expected to be okay.

“It created a tremendous amount of heat,” said Captain Tom Bogan with Marco Island Fire. “It’s one of the hottest fires I’ve been in in a while. You could not see a foot in front of you, no way.”

Firefighters from Isles of Capri and Greater Naples also responded. Firefighters smashed out windows to help ventilate the condo. They also checked other neighbors’ units and found one of them did not have any working smoke alarms.

“It could have been a critical situation had that fire progressed any further and there had been occupants below,” said Marco Island Fire Chief, Mike Murphy.

The fire marshal is investigating what caused the fire. The condo was destroyed.