Major fire displaces 70 residents at Morrisville apartment building
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Crews battled a major fire at a Morrisville apartment complex on Monday night in a building with approximately 70 residents.
The three-alarm fire ignited at the Camden Westwood Apartments at 2100 Summit Ridge Loop.
Five people were treated for smoke-related injuries, Town of Morrisville spokesperson Erin Hudson said. A sixth person was taken to UNC Hospitals for burns. The condition of that victim was not immediately known.
Hudson said the fire was contained to a single 30-unit building. There are at least 16 buildings in the complex.
All residents were displaced and are temporarily staging in the leasing office, Hudson said.
Some residents said the fire was so big and spread so quickly that they barely had time to get out
"That's my apartment on the top floor. All my stuff," said John Walters. "I thought I smelled wax burning. So I looked over the deck like, where's the smell coming from? And I saw smoke coming up from the first-floor apartment. And I could see the reflection of flames on the ground. And I oh, God, I ran back in the apartment, and my wife in the bathroom got out of the bathroom, grabbed my wallet and keys."
Walters said they didn't have time to get anything but "the clothes on our backs. So it's all lost."
Mark Milligan and his grandmother both got out of their second-floor unit before flames reached it.
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"My grandma ran out of the building, and I was trying to find my wallet. My keys couldn't do it. And by the time I was out in the hallway, the smoke was already in the hallway, in the stairwell, Milligan said. "By the time we were both out, it was billowing out. The fire went up on the column here, and it spread to the building over there as we were watching it. And I just kept trying to get it to get further away from it because the smoke was getting us."
The fire broke out around 6:15 p.m. and appeared to be largely contained shortly before 8 p.m. When firefighters arrived, the entire third-floor was in flames.
She didn't know whether any firefighters were injured.
One resident told ABC11 that he saw the second story of the building on fire and called 911.
Another resident, Ashleigh Viers, said the fire "shot up," and she heard some residents on the third-floor balcony yelling for help.
She lives across from the burning building and tried to help.
"We ran over to make sure everybody was OK, and this whole side was on fire. It was just this side at first that was on fire, and then it erupted and traveled across the roof."
The Red Cross and Neighbor Up were contacted and were on-site assisting those who had been displaced.
The Red Cross said it was assessing needs for more than 70 residents. Residents can also call (800) RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) for assistance.
There were sprinklers in the building, Hudson said. The cause of the fire is not yet known. The Office of the State Fire Marshal, Wake County Fire Marshal, and Morrisville Fire Marshal are on location and investigating to determine the cause.
Several agencies responded, including Morrisville, Apex, and Cary fire crews.
Previous fires at Camden Westwood
This isn't the first time a fire has broken out at these apartment homes.
A fire happened there in March of 2019, displacing 35 people.
And another fire broke out there in 2009.
That fire started on the deck of one of the third-floor apartments.
In that fire, 50 people were displaced.
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