Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 -- Update 3:30 pm

Investigators now know what caused an apartment building fire overnight. The fire forced more than a dozen people from their homes.

Crews got the call shortly after two o'clock Tuesday morning. The fire broke out at an 8-unit apartment building on Pike Drive on Madison's South side. No one was injured.

"Numb" is how the owner of this building describes feeling while he watched firefighters try to save it.
"My knees were knocking, but my knees have finally settled down," Erv Bendorf says.
It took crews about an hour to knock down the fire. They arrived to find residents, like Arthur Pryor and his family, out safely but flames shooting through the roof.

"They got about 4-to-6 feet into the building before they were driven back by heat and flames," Lori Wirth with Madison Fire says.

Investigators say the fire was not intentional. They blame smoking materials -- something the owner says he suspected after talking with tenants on the scene.

"The next thing she knew she was feeling heat and fire," Bendorf says.
Bendorf says all of the tenants signed a "no smoking" agreement, but he believes a guest of one of them fell asleep smoking on a couch. Firefighters have not confirmed the details.

By midday Tuesday, other tenants, like Juan Pena, were saving what they could with the help of friends. A friend of Pena says the husband and father already has a new place to live. Bendorf, meanwhile, says he's had a hand in managing more than 2-thousand apartments in Madison since the 1960s, but he has never had to deal with a fire like this one.

"My wife says we're too old for this, sell those buildings," Bendorf says.
Bendorf says he's still unsure what will happen next with the property. Damage is estimated at half of a million dollars.

The building's owner says the apartment where he believes the fire started has had a number of minor fire calls in the past. He says the tenant was scheduled to move out today.

The Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross also is helping 15 people displaced by the fire -- six of them children.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 --- 12:05 p.m.

Sheriff Department PIO Lori Wirth said investigators have pinpointed a cause:
Unintentional fire as a result of smoking materials.

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008 --- 7:35 a.m.

According to the Madison Fire Department:

Fire in an eight-unit, two-story apartment building has left 16 residents without a place to live.

City of Madison firefighters were called to 2101 Pike Drive at 2:07 this morning. The first-in crew, Ladder Company 6 arrived to find flames through the roof of the structure. The crew attempted entry through the front door, but only made it four to six feet into the building before being met with heavy flames and extreme heat.

Residents self-evacuated the building before crews arrived. Firefighters conducted primary and secondary searches of the building as they brought the fire under control, but no one was left in the building and there were no injuries.

Fire in the roof remained stubborn. Knockdown of the fire took place at 3:10 a.m., but crews continued to discover hot spots and flare-ups.
Crews are expected to remain at the scene for at least part of the day to monitor hot spots and extinguish any flare-ups.

Fire investigators believe the fire began in a first floor unit at the front of the building. The cause remains under investigation. Damages are estimated at $500,000.

Residents of the building are being assisted by Red Cross.