A neighbor told KIRO that a young girl was shooting off bottle rockets at the time.

The blaze started in building 113 at the Oak Park Apartments.

Resident Anthony Prusek had just gotten home from work when he saw flames leaping from the back porch of an apartment and called 911.

“It just looked like 9-foot flames coming off a barbecue grill. It just caught fire," said Prusek.

The flames were contained to the back porch and the attic space. The two people who lived in the damaged apartment were not home when the fire started.

"Our crews went in, did a quick search, and found nobody in the apartment. We found a fire on the back porch area. We extinguished that fire, pulled the ceiling and found a large amount of fire in the attic space," said Baron Banks of Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.

Officials said that Central Pierce Fire and Rescue normally responds to 40 or 50 calls a day, but during the Fourth of July the call volume can double.

“The fireworks that cause us the most problems are the aerial type devices and bottle rockets, so if people can stay away from those, it helps our cause," said Banks.