Blaze at N.C. Apartment Displaces 24 Residents

Nov. 26, 2013
Winston-Salem firefighters battled the apartment fire, which caused $1 million in damage.

Nov. 26--Two dozen people escaped an early morning apartment fire that caused about $1 million worth of damage.

Winston-Salem firefighters responded to a fire about 4:30 a.m. at a 12-unit apartment building at Colonial Village at Glen Eagles on Braehill Terrace Drive, off South Peace Haven Road. The fire displaced 17 adults and seven children, all of whom got out safely. One resident had a laceration and was treated.

Assistant Chief Freddie Broome said the fire started on the outside of the building and was caused by an electrical shortage. When firefighters arrived, they saw fire climbing the building's exterior. The fire was under control about 6 a.m., Broome said.

By midmorning Monday, the roof of the apartment building was almost completely burned through, and the exterior walls on one side of the apartment were gone.

Residents who were displaced stayed warm in the pool house at the complex, Battalion Chief A. T. Byrum told WGHP/FOX 8, the Winston-Salem Journal's newsgathering partner.

Broome said the estimated damage to the building was $1 million. The damage to people's personal belongings was an estimated $125,000, he said.

The building will have to be replaced, he said.

Officials at the apartment are working with residents to arrange short-term and long-term shelter, said Tilea Terry, spokeswoman for Mid-America Apartments, which operates Colonial Village at Glen Eagles. The company is based in Memphis, Tenn.

"That is our No. 1 priority," Terry said.

The Northwest North Carolina chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting displaced residents, said Jeff McPherson, the chapter executive.

"We're going to make sure that every resident will have shelter (for the next couple of nights)," he said.

The Red Cross will work with residents on a case-by-case basis to see what can be done about more-permanent housing, McPherson said.

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Copyright 2013 - Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

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