The duplex of Dr. Paula Azoulay, at 2508 56th Avenue SW, caught on fire Thursday night shortly after 8 pm. She was out of town. However a tenant, who asked not to be identified, rented a basement apartment in the building. She appeared unharmed.

"She secured the house and left for California for six months to help her daughter with the birth of her new granddaughter," said Hudson Burke, who lives three doors down. He said he knows her well because the neighbors held a recent garage sale, and she participated.

"I was doing my 'honey-dew' list in my front yard and looked up and saw a fire ball go up and I heard someone who I think was on or near the roof scream, 'Oh S_ _ _!' Maybe some kids were up there cooking with kerosene. But I don't know."

A crowd of over two hundred gathered as firefighters secured the area and extinguished the fire. Several in the crowd mentioned that the fire department first arrived at the scene six minutes after they first saw smoke.