Albuquerque Fire Department responded to a residential fire in the 200 block of Cornell Drive S.E. yesterday evening.
The fire took place in the front unit of a fourplex house.

AFD spokeswoman Melissa Romero said the fire started in the kitchen. The unit was vacant at the time, and the neighbors connected to the house evacuated quickly.

“There was heavy smoke damage that entered from the front,” Romero said. “There were no injuries and everyone evacuated.”
Romero said it is unclear what started the fire, but a neighbor said he saw wires hanging from the kitchen ceiling, badly disintegrated by the fire.

Natalie Livingston, a neighbor from across the street, reported the fire to AFD around 4 p.m.  

“We smelled smoke,” Livingston said. “We just got back from class, and we could see black smoke pouring out of the side, so we called 911.”
Livingston and her roommate sat across the street at their house and shot video from her handheld camera.

As smoked filled the block just north of Frontier Restaurant, six fire trucks and three emergency vehicle units covered the street and yellow tape blocked traffic. Students walking home from school lined the sidewalk to get to get a peek.

“I got a really good shot of the firefighters on the roof,” Livingston said. “It was a shock when we looked outside. We thought someone was having a barbeque.”