FARMINGTON — A mother and her two children were forced from their apartment on Bridge Street after the kitchen stove caught fire Thursday morning.

Courtney Hodge was starting to cook hamburgers and fries shortly after 11 a.m. when the stove started to spark and flames erupted, she said as she watched firefighters at her first-floor apartment at 129 Bridge St. in West Farmington.

The apartment building, owned by Shawn Grant, contains four apartments, Deputy Fire Chief Clyde Ross said. Occupants in the three other apartments were able to return there Thursday night, but Hodge and her two daughters cannot return until Friday night, he said.

The Red Cross has been called to help Hodge, he said.

Hodge was starting to cook for her daughter, Coni Hatfield, 15, while her 4-year-old daughter was at preschool. The stove is old and has been causing problems, Hodge said.

The stove, food and cabinets were burned in the fire, she said after firefighters let her go back into the building. Help arrived quickly, she said.

It didn’t take long to knock down the fire but firefighters continued to  look for any hot spots or hidden fires in the three-story building, he said.

The second floor tenant, Daphne Lightbody, said she heard Hodge screaming for help, gathered her dogs and left. Her daughter, Megan Viles, was in school.

An unidentified college student and his wife occupy a third apartment and the fourth is rented by a single man. A total of eight people live in the building, Ross said.

Hodge and her family moved to the area from Massachusetts in August to be closer to her father who lives in Mexico, she said.

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