19 displaced after 2-alarm fire guts east Charlotte apartments

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nearly 60 firefighters were busy battling an intense 2-alarm apartment fire in frigid conditions early Tuesday morning in east Charlotte.

[IMAGES: 2-alarm apartment fire in east Charlotte]

Fire crews were called to Perth Court, off Milton Road near The Plaza, just before 5:30 a.m.

Firefighters reported seeing heavy flames and smoke coming from a building at the Park Creek Apartments when they arrived.

The fire was contained to one building, damaging 10 units, and it took 48 firefighters nearly an hour to get the flames under control.

Firefighters attacked the fire from the roof using a ladder after they pulled crews out from inside the building because the flames were too intense.

“I got up and put my stuff on, looked out the window and it was starting to go across,” said Shenecka Davis, who lives at the apartments. “They told us to get our stuff, put some clothes on and get out… I was scared, I thought all of my stuff was gonna get caught up in the fire.”

Davis said she never heard fire alarms go off and officials cited the apartment's owner for not having working fire detectors.

Officials told Channel 9 that nobody was hurt but they had to call a CATS bus to the scene to keep displaced residents warm in the sub-freezing pre-dawn conditions.

The Red Cross was also on scene helping, and told Channel 9 that 12 adults and seven children were displaced.

Andrewa Bowiero wasn't home when the fire ripped through her apartment building.

In the afternoon, Bowiero returned to gather what could be saved.

"The buildings, there all gone,” Bowiero said. “They are all gone."

The Charlotte Fire Department said the fire started in a 2nd-floor heating unit. The damage was estimated at $200,000.

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