Blaze Destroys South Carolina Townhouses

Fire destroyed eight townhouses in Greenville Tuesday night, forcing 20 people from their homes.

Jan. 17, 2008

2 min read

GREENVILLE, S.C. --

Fire destroyed eight townhouses in Greenville Tuesday night, forcing 20 people from their homes.

Firefighters said the blaze began just before 8 p.m. at the Crescent Landing on White Horse Road.

Resident Patrice Shamley said, "When I went downstairs, you could see through the vent the fire coming through the other building. And when I went outside, the first apartment caught on fire. It was a minute before the fire trucks and everything came."

Investigators said that the blaze began in the attic of the "F" building and spread quickly.

"I was in there asleep and (a neighbor) came knocking on the door and said 'Miss Eliza, get up the apartment is on fire,'" fire victim Eliza Neal said. "So I jumped up and grabbed my housecoat and everything and ran out the door."

Fire investigators said that the flames started in the heating unit Apartment F1, but they may never know exactly what started the fire.

Officials said everyone is accounted for and nobody was injured.

Chief Jay Mitchell said, "Proper maintenance -- maintaining the units the way they should be maintained - not to say that they were not maintained correctly here - because we don't exactly what started the fire here. We just know kind of the point of where it started."

This is the third fire at the apartments since May 2005.

The Red Cross is assisting the victims.

Brian Scoles, with the Upstate American Red Cross Chapter, said, "We've assisted close to 600 -- maybe a little bit over 600 individuals -- and we've committed about $180,000 to this point -- not including the fire last night in disaster assistance alone."

Fire crews used a large amount of water in fighting the fire and with the freezing temperatures overnight, they said they are worried about ice on the roadway.