Six families displaced after fire at 4-story apartment complex

UPDATE (3/10): There was a town hall meeting on Thursday to discuss how to further assist the six families who were displaced following a massive apartment complex fire last week.

During the townhall meeting at the Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, residents designated ways for people to donate anything they could to help the families forced out of their homes in Upper Hill by the fire on March 4.

A GoFundMe page was set up for anyone wanting to donate to the families.

ORIGINAL STORY (3/4)

Six families, including 11 adults and 17 children, were displaced following a large fire in an Upper Hill apartment complex Saturday.

Everyone was able to evacuate the building safely, as crews worked to extinguish the fire that started around 8 p.m. Saturday in the 3300 block of Iowa Street.

Flames could be seen shooting out of the roof of the building.

Channel 11’s Lori Houy spoke with several of the residents who are now searching for another place to live.

Ronell Davis and Juwan Payton told Channel 11 the fire started in their fourth-floor apartment, so they then rushed to alert everyone in the building.

“We had to knock on everyone’s door to get out of there as soon as we could,” Davis said. “Then we called 911.”

Many of the residents returned Sunday morning to retrieve what they could from their apartments. Both Davis and Payton said they are finding another place to live, along with 26 other people who were displaced by the fire.

A firefighter suffered burns and was transported to the hospital but is in good condition, according to officials.

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the fire.

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