Saturday morning apartment fire displaces Franklin family

The Franklin Fire Department responded to a kitchen fire that damaged a Landings Drive apartment on Saturday morning.

According to an FFD news release, the fire was sparked after a stovetop burner was left on after being used to sterilize baby bottles inside of an apartment in the Landings of Brentwood complex.

Crews were dispatched to the apartment around 2:45 a.m. where they found heavy smoke after the resident successfully extinguished the fire prior to firefighters arriving on the scene.

According to FFD Lt. Aaron Sherwood, the man who extinguished the fire was a new father, who had just brought home the couple's newborn daughter from the hospital on Friday.

Sherwood said that the couple forgot to turn the stove off and were alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm as the flames spread to the kitchen's microwave and cabinets.

The mother evacuated the apartment with their baby and called 911 while the father extinguished the fire.

“The smoke alarms did what they were supposed to do,” Sherwood said in the news release.  “We just made sure the fire didn’t extend anywhere, and helped the family get in touch with the Red Cross.”

No one was injured in the blaze that caused an estimated $15,000 in damage.

The American Red Cross and apartment management are assisting the displaced family, and members of the Franklin Fire Department also gave the family baby formula, diapers and other baby supplies.