A blowtorch sparked an accidental fire that raced up a plumbing vent and burned two Lake Hiawatha apartments yesterday morning before firefighters doused it, official said.

An assistant superintendent from the Knoll Gardens apartment complex was doing soldering work in a common basement area under apartment No. 118 when a wood floor just caught fire, "He didn't realize what he had done until later," said Mark Krevis, chief of the Lake Hiawatha Fire Department, who declined to name the worker.

The fire spread up the plumbing vent, or chase, to the first and second-floor apartments above, Krevis said.

 

An unidentified 28-year-old woman residing in apartment No. 118 reported smoke coming from her closet at 10:30 a.m. Several dozen firefighters from Parsippany Districts 4, 5 and 6 as well as Montville and Boonton, responded and snuffed out the blaze at about 11:20 a.m.

A stunned cat was pulled from the blaze by Lt. Gary Erdmann of the Parsippany Fire and Rescue Squad and was revived with oxygen. No injuries were reported.

Both apartments sustained smoke and water damage and were condemned, Krevis said.

"It's scary," said William McMillian, 29, as he watched the blaze come within feet of his next door apartment. Two fire walls kept the blaze from spreading to adjacent apartments, Krevis said.