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A Saturday morning fire at the Empirian Village apartment complex left nine people injured, including five children who jumped from their balconies and one firefighter.

The fire started on the second floor of the apartment building at 5925 Cherry Wood Terrace and spread to the third floor, said Mark Brady, spokesman for the Prince George's County Fire and EMS Department, who added that the fire has been ruled accidental and started from an electrical malfunction.

The former Springhill Lake apartment complex had at least nine arsons from March to August 2007, which resulted in more than $2 million in damage. Jeremiah Christopher Jones, the man arrested for the fires, confessed to police of setting a total of 22 fires.

Sharon Thames, Empirian Village property manager, said there were 14 apartments in the building. Empirian Village is a complex of 4,900 units. The adjoining building, at 5923 Cherry Wood Terrace, also suffered some fire and water damage. In total, Thames estimates about 100 people have been displaced. Brady estimates the damage to be about $750,000.

Those residents who lived in 5925 were relocated to new apartments Saturday night, while five residents from 5923 remain in a hotel.

"We're just trying to make sure everybody gets the services they need," Thames said.

A family of six, including a mother, father and their four children leapt from their third floor apartment, Brady said.

"The mother and father were OK, and the children, who ranged in ages from 3 to 14, sustained only minor injuries to their lower extremities," Brady said.

Another woman and her young son also jumped from their balconies before going to a friend's apartment in the same complex. About an hour later, they called 911 and were taken in for hip pain, Brady said.

The most seriously injured in the fire were a couple in their 20s.

"The couple had serious burns to their upper body," Brady said. "The concern is that they could have inhaled hot gases that burned their respiratory tracts."

Brady said he has not been contacted by the hospital regarding the couple's condition and that "no news is good news."

The injured firefighter was treated for burns to his ears and released.

At the first alarm, firefighters from Berwyn Heights, Branchville, College Park, Riverdale, Beltsville and Calverton responded to the scene and rescued 10 people who were trapped in the building.

Michael Worrell, who lived on the third floor in the building where the fire started, stayed at a friend's house the night before the fire.

"My roommate called and said there was a fire, but not how bad it was," Worrell said. "I came home as fast as I could and found this."

The stairs in the building were covered with black ash Monday and smoke hung in the air. The apartment walls had burned down, allowing him to see into his neighbors' homes. Everything in his bedroom was ruined.

On Monday, Worrell loaded what little he had left into his car and moving to Silver Spring.

Another resident, Swaheda Green, said she was originally supposed to move into the building that burned, but she and her family were placed into a nearby building instead.

"I heard the ambulance, and my first reaction was ‘Oh my God,'" Green said. "My cousin lives around the corner and she called to make sure it wasn't my building."

Though the damaged buildings are fenced off and boarded up, Thames said they would be renovated as soon as possible.

E-mail Jordan Attebury at jattebury@gazette.net.