HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Nearly two dozen people do not have a place to stay after fire ripped through an apartment complex in Huntersville overnight.
Fire broke out at The Fairways at Birkdale on Streamview Drive just before 2 a.m. The complex is near Birkdale Commons Parkway and Sam Furr Road.
Firefighters believe the fire started on a first-floor balcony and traveled up through the building. The second and third floor suffered the most damage, and Channel 9 could see windows knocked out and a large hole in the roof.
A total of 10 units have smoke, fire or water damage.
https://twitter.com/wsoctv/status/685374422778249216
Emergency responders arrived at the complex just before 2 a.m. and found heavy smoke coming from the building. Firefighters and police had to help get people and pets out of their apartments.
Officials told Channel 9 it took fire crews roughly 45 minutes to get the flames under control, and that 20 people were displaced because of the fire.
The first person to call 911 was a woman who lived across from the building.
"It was very, very, very freaky," Donna Houghton said. "Obviously, my first thought was this could get completely out of control, and I'm right here across the street."
Houghton said she woke up in the middle of the night and saw the flames.
"I looked around and there was nobody downstairs," Houghton said. "I saw no people and I thought, 'My goodness, I might be the first one that saw this.'"
She called 911 and the operator told her to go and try to wake her neighbors up. By the time Houghton got downstairs, the smoke was too thick for her to go into the building.
Luckily, firefighters were there seconds later.
Nobody was hurt and officials said the fire and the damage could have been worse, but sprinklers and firewalls helped prevent the spread of the flames.
"The apartment complex was sprinklered,” said Bill Suthard with the Huntersville Fire Department. “It prevented a lot of fire from spreading, but we had a lot of fire on arrival.”
https://twitter.com/AngelaWSOC9/status/685422050060689408
The Red Cross was called to help those displaced.
Investigators said the fire was not intentionally set and they have not released the official cause.
Be sure to download the WSOC-TV Wake Up app to get the latest breaking news, weather and traffic on your phone first thing in the mornings.