Residents allowed back in after TI condo fire

TREASURE ISLAND -- Most residents were allowed back into the Blind Pass Lagoon condominium tower today after Monday afternoon's fire gutted a fourth-floor apartment and brought fire crews from all over south Pinellas.

Power and water were restored to all but a handful of units, said Treasure Island Fire Chief Charles Fant, allowing residents to return.

The only unit still uninhabitable is Apt. 402, where the fire raged on Monday, and units directly below it damaged by water used to fight the blaze. But those water-logged units weren't occupied, Fant said.

Monday's alarm was called in at 3:54 p.m. as a kitchen fire, but Fant said the cause won't be known for a few days.

"By all appearances, it's of accidental origin," the chief said today.

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue had nothing new to report today on the Sunday fire that claimed the three-story Biltmore Apartments at 435 Third Ave. N.

Demolition crews are still working on what's left, and the investigation into the cause of the fire will continue on Wednesday.

Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer