Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press

Fellow residents of the Mid-Town Apartments pointed fingers at Harry Gardner, alleging that he started a fire in his apartment by falling asleep with a lit cigarette Tuesday morning.

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Emergency personnel scrambled to save lives Tuesday as fire swept through the corner of the two-story brick Mid-Town Apartments on the southeast corner of Seventh and Locust streets.

The fire was confined to the first-floor apartment on the northwest corner of the building, said Steve Henrichson, an inspector with the St. Joseph Fire Department.

That’s the apartment of Harry Gardner, said Greg Frisbie, one of the building’s owners. The man admitted that he fell asleep smoking, Mr. Henrichson said.

The building sustained heat and smoke damage throughout, and the estimated costs for the damage is $60,000, he said. Residents declined medical treatment at the scene.

Police and firefighters arriving at about 8:40 a.m. Tuesday had to rescue two people living on the second floor. Capt. Rod Johnson from Engine 1 took the lead line to keep water on the flames ripping out of the northwest corner windows so a man on the balcony wouldn’t be burned and a Snorkel unit could conduct the rescue, said Paris Jenkins, the battalion chief.

Firefighter Loren Crum climbed up and rescued the man on the second floor.

Another man crawled out onto his second-floor balcony on the north side of the building. He was on his way out and going to climb down, said Rae Smith, a longtime resident at the apartment complex.

Police officers Henry Pena and Jason Norton were joined by several firefighters to rescue the man, who was threatening to jump from his second-floor apartment.

“We said we were going to catch him even if he jumped,” Mr. Pena said.

“The people we saved didn’t have a lot longer in the condition they were in,” Mr. Jenkins said.

Firefighters went room to room making sure no one was left in the building, said Chief Jack Brown, who came to the scene.

“We were lucky being this close to headquarters,” Mr. Brown said.

Smoke detectors beeped throughout the building during the emergency and some residents heard them, Mr. Henrichson said.

“Those detectors close to the blaze were fried,” he said.

Kenneth Dailey, a 26-year veteran of the St. Joseph Fire Department, has lived at the 24-unit complex since 2000. Mr. Dailey said he was awake and just getting dressed when everything started happening. He got out with the clothes on his back. Several men only had shorts on; they didn’t even have time to put shoes on their bare feet.

Terisha Lopez was asleep in the apartment across the hall from the inferno in Mr. Gardner’s apartment.

“Someone pounded on the door saying to grab your things and leave,” Ms. Lopez said. “I noticed smoke was already seeping through the bricks.”

Emergency personnel also had to put up with exploding .22-caliber bullets from Mr. Gardner’s apartment, Mr. Henrichson said.

Firefighters were warned that some residents used oxygen containers for medical purposes, which presented a possibility of explosions, Mr. Jenkins said.

The fire was out by about 9:40 a.m. By 11 a.m., Mr. Dailey and Ms. Smith were able to return to their apartments in the rear of the building.

“There’s a definite smoky smell, but everything is all right,” Mr. Dailey said.

Mr. Frisbie and a work crew were cleaning up the mess at the front of the building and waiting for an insurance representative. The corner windows will be boarded up, and work will begin as soon as possible, he said.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.