Fire breaks out in wall, displaces 20 from Gwinnett apartment

Tenants at a Gwinnett County apartment complex initially thought a strange smell was coming from their oven and were startled when a wall in their home began to crackle Wednesday afternoon.

That’s when they realized their apartment was on fire.

Gwinnett firefighters were called to the Forest Vale apartments in the 1100 block of Forest Vale Drive off Jimmy Carter Boulevard after a 911 call was made from the apartment’s leasing office. Once at the scene, crews found a two-story building in flames around 1:10 p.m.

All occupants were evacuated from the building and no injuries were reported, officials said.

Investigators learned that the tenants living in the first-floor unit where the fire began alerted maintenance about a “strange smell in the kitchen” that they believed was coming from the oven. Officials said a maintenance worker did not find any issues with the oven.

A few minutes later, authorities said one of the tenants noticed a popping noise coming from inside the wall and flames soon began to spew. The fire was found to have been electrical in nature and smoke alarms were activated, the fire department confirmed.

Four apartments on the right side of the building were heavily damaged by the fire and water used to extinguish it, causing 20 people, including six children, to be displaced. The left side of the building was not damaged and residents were able to return home.