PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tenants are salvaging what they can after a fire tore through the Belleza condos on Monday.
Now, some are questioning whether more could've been done to prevent it. As flames engulfed building 100 at the Belleza condos Monday morning, questions surfaced about whether the building and people's belongings could've been saved.
One woman told Action News she first called 911 at 4:05 a.m.
"I'm smelling smoke coming from somewhere. It could be from across the way. It could be from this building. I can't tell," the woman told 911.
According to new dispatch records we obtained, the dispatcher noted Engine 10 was dispatched about 4:08 and was en route by 4:10 a.m. But by 4:15 a.m., dispatchers reported the call about smoke odor in the area unfounded, leaving less than five minutes for the crew to investigate the call.
Latest News Headlines from Action News
But there's an important difference to note. According to the dispatcher report, firefighters were called to building 700. That is not the building that later caught fire.
We drove the 2-mile route from the fire station in Ponte Vedra Beach to the Belleza condos and parked by building 700. It took us almost 10 minutes, abiding by traffic laws.
In the roughly five minutes firefighters would've been there, we were able to walk all around building 700. But building 700 is actually right next to building 100, where the fire was.
What fire crews did for less than five minutes during that first call is the focus of the department's internal investigation. The big questions are: Did they do enough to investigate whether there was a problem? And could the outcome of this fire have been different? Those are questions fire leaders won't answer yet.
For Action News on the go, sign up for Action News Mobile & Email alerts
WJAX
