Local

More than 20 evacuated after south Charlotte apartment fire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than 20 people in south Charlotte have to stay somewhere else after a fire burned their apartments early Tuesday morning.

A man driving home from work around 2:30 a.m. saw fire shooting out of units at the Emerald Bay apartments on Montcrest Drive, near Archdale Drive and South Boulevard.

Officials said eight units were burned and more than 20 people were displaced because of the fire.

Most of the damage was to the back of the building on the top floor. Fire officials said the apartment building is unlivable.

No one was hurt but the people who lived in he burned out units lost everything -- one family even lost their dog.

Stormy weather was rolling through the area at the time but firefighters have not determined what caused the fire, which started on the second floor of a unit in the complex.

It took firefighters roughly 40 minutes to put get the fire under control.

The Red Cross is giving families a place to stay.

For the next two days those families will stay in hotels. Afterward, the landlord will try to put them in vacant units at the complex.