Residents of a student apartment complex were awakened early yesterday morning when a toaster set fire in four students’ apartment.

About 40 residents of the Entrada Real apartment complex, 1850 N. Tyndall Ave., gathered outside around 2:30 a.m. while Tucson Fire Department responded to a fire in an upstairs unit of the two-story complex.

The fire was caused by a toaster malfunction, said TFD Capt. John Hauptman.

“”Any heating appliances should be kept unplugged,”” said Hauptman.

Hauptman said the fire “”wouldn’t have happened”” if the toaster had been unplugged.

Jenna Gossler, a physiology senior and resident of the apartment where the fire started, said the smoke alarm in the kitchen woke her up, but she had to rouse her three roommates because they slept through it.

Gossler said when she came out of her room, flames had engulfed a kitchen cabinet and were spreading to another cabinet.

“”The fire was pretty big when I kicked everybody out,”” said Gossler. “”There were 3-foot flames.””

Gossler said she and her roommates spent the night at a friend’s house because their apartment was still smoky.

“”The fumes were so bad all of us had stomach aches,”” Gossler said. “”I was having trouble breathing because I was in the smoke the most.””

Hauptman said there would be “”water damage from the sprinkler that went off”” in the apartment.

After TFD left the scene, apartment maintenance personnel ripped out cabinets and set up a fan to dry out the carpet, Gossler said.

“”All of my clothes and all of my bedding reek of smoke,”” Gossler said.

Gossler said she will have to have many of her possessions specially cleaned, and she and her roommates will have to clean the kitchen walls and scrub the ceiling to rid them of the smell.

Fires don’t happen very often in the university area, Hauptman said.