{"id":367209,"date":"2026-08-10T03:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T03:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367209\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T03:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T03:48:10","slug":"everything-is-ruined-oldsmar-apartment-fire-leaves-7-families-displaced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367209\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everything is ruined\u2019: Oldsmar apartment fire leaves 7 families displaced"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Seven \"Seven <\/p>\n

OLDSMAR, Fla – The fire broke out just before 8:50 a.m. at the Aventine at Forest Lakes Apartment Homes. Flames spread through the attic and through the roof before firefighters brought it under control.<\/p>\n

Lamin Labaran says he and his roommate lost nearly everything inside their apartment.<\/p>\n

Oldsmar apartment complex fire <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

“On a scale of 1 to 10, I\u2019d give it like a 12,” he said. “Everything is ruined.”<\/p>\n

The St. Petersburg College student is still in shock, trying to process the damage to his room and personal belongings.<\/p>\n

“Right now, it still feels like a dream,” Labaran said. “I’m waiting for someone to pinch me because this is a lot to take in honestly.”<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old woke to the smell of smoke and the sound of neighbors screaming. He then rushed to wake his roommate, Matthew Martin.<\/p>\n

“Waking up and seeing somebody standing over me yelling fire, I was like oh my God,” Martin said. “I got up immediately, the adrenaline was just going.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Rushing out of their second-story apartment, the 20-year-old recorded cellphone video as firefighters raced to the rescue.<\/p>\n

Along with Oldsmar Fire Rescue, crews from East Lake, Safety Harbor, Palm Harbor and Clearwater responded. The fire was brought under control shortly after they arrived.<\/p>\n

Martin says water and fire damage destroyed most of his belongings.<\/p>\n

“Walking in, you can feel the water all over the place,” \u00a0he said. “Everything in that room is ruined.”<\/p>\n

Red Cross community assistance <\/p>\n

Why you should care:<\/p>\n

Oldsmar Fire Chief Jason Schwabe told FOX 13 that no residents or firefighters were injured. Meanwhile, property management and the Red Cross are assisting the families displaced by the fire<\/p>\n

“They provided toiletries and some compensation to help get a bed,” Labaran said. “So, I can sleep tonight.”<\/p>\n

For now, both roommates have moved into an empty unit at their apartment complex in Oldsmar. Despite losing almost everything, Martin is grateful Labaran may have saved his life.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“I would have slept through it and probably would not have woken up from the smoke inhalation,” he concluded. “I am very grateful that he thought to wake me up.”<\/p>\n

Cause of Oldsmar blaze <\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

Oldsmar\u2019s Fire Chief says the cause of the apartment fire remains under investigation.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story came from statements from Oldsmar Fire Rescue, interviews with residents and previous reporting on FOX 13.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County<\/a>Fire<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OLDSMAR, Fla – The fire broke out just before 8:50 a.m. at the Aventine at Forest Lakes Apartment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[855,47,115,1157,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-367209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fire","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}