EARLY MORNING FIRE AT APARTMENT COMPLEX DISPLACES MULTIPLE FAMILIES
BRIDGETON - An early morning fire displaced nearly 50 resident at an apartment complex displacing them from their homes during the holidays.
A fire broke out just before 5 a.m. Tuesday morning at the Bridgeton Villas Apartment Complex.
"I started smelling the smoke and everything, I looked out my window and I seen debris like when.....Continue Reading
you throw a log on a fire going across the window," said Rebecca Epright who was displaced from her home by the fire.
The blaze severely damaged 10 of the 24 apartments in the building. A dumpster was also engulfed in flames when police and fire personnel arrived at the seen.
"The flames were coming up out of the dumpster all the way up to the roof," said Carol Finlaw, another resident displaced by the fire.
The fire seemed to center around apartments 117 to 120 according to authorities. There were no injuries as a result of the fire but the nearly 50 residents in the building are now displaced, just weeks before Christmas.
"No one should have to go through something like this you know to have a home one day and then the next day not have anything its crazy," said Epright.
"We just don't know what we are going to do, where we are going to go and stay, I had animals, I don't know what we are going to do with them its scary," said Finlaw
Several residents were taken to the Salvation Army building in Bridgeton for the day until permanent arrangements could be made.
"It's been kind of hard but we're dealing with it, we've got each other and really that's all that matters," said Christine Durham, who is staying at the Salvation Army after the fire displaced her from her apartment.
City officials, representatives with the Salvation Army, and the local Red Cross are looking to set up a shelter at the school on Buckshutem Road in Bridgeton for those displaced from their homes to sleep for the night.
Police are still investigating the cause of the fire.
