Another fire strikes Fan apartment building

For the second time in less than 18 months, a Richmond apartment building popular with Virginia Commonwealth University students was damaged in a fire.

Once again, no one was hurt.

"You can rebuild the building. I'm just glad everyone's OK," Jim Wright, owner of Metro Properties Inc., said before he resumed directing the cleanup efforts at The Ritz Apartments yesterday morning.

Wright's company manages the 33-unit, three-story building at 1411 Grove Ave. in a quiet, tree-lined area in the Fan District just west of VCU's main academic campus.

The Ritz, an 80-year-old red brick building with a masonry façade, was damaged on Feb. 21, 2008, when a fire broke out at a nearby house that was being renovated and quickly spread to several adjoining structures. One unit at the Ritz was damaged in that fire.

Firefighters were called back to the block yesterday at 2:10 a.m., and this time they found heavy fire in a first-floor unit just inside the front door of the Ritz.

That unit was gutted, and the unit above it sustained a relatively small amount of fire damage, Wright said. Scorch marks also were left 15-20 feet down the ceiling of the main first-floor hallway before the fire was declared under control about 90 minutes later, Wright said.

Aside from that, the rest of the building had mainly minor smoke damage and some water damage, said Wright, who by midmorning had electricians, plumbers, a locksmith and cleaning crews on the scene.

"We've got the water back on in the building. We've got the essential services back," Wright said. "We want to get our tenants back in."

While almost all of the building's units have been rented, not all were occupied. Wright said that's because the Ritz attracts so many students from VCU, which has not yet begun its fall semester.

Richmond fire Lt. Shawn L. Jones said two residents who complained of minor smoke inhalation refused medical treatment.

"The Richmond Fire Department was awesome," Wright said. "They got here and got on this fire. They saved the building."

The cause of the fire was under investigation yesterday.

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .