An apartment building blaze that displaced dozens of Charleston residents Wednesday afternoon resulted in no injuries or deaths, firefighters say, and residents of the Regal apartment building in the East End said the outcome could have been much worse.
The fire was first reported around 3:13 p.m. at the Regal apartment building, in the 1400 block of Kanawha Boulevard.
An entire shift of the Charleston Fire Department — at least 40 firefighters and 10 administrative staff members, and some who were off duty, responded to the fire, said Capt. David Hodges, director of EMS operations for the Charleston Fire Department.
“All the city’s resources are currently on scene, except for three ambulances,” Hodges said Wednesday afternoon. “We have since back-filled the city with units from the South Charleston Fire Department, Malden Fire Department and Pinch Fire Department.”
Hodges said it has been “many years” since the city had an “all-hands working” fire like the one Wednesday.
The cause of the fire was not known Wednesday. Hodges said the blaze appeared to have started near the ceiling and roof of the structure’s fourth floor.
He said firefighters had spoken with the building’s management company, who said that 35 of the building’s 37 units were occupied. All residents were accounted for Wednesday, Hodges said.
Standing outside the building, several residents said they did not hear a fire alarm sound when the blaze broke out.
Seth DiStefano, who lived on the building’s second floor, said he had returned from the state Capitol during a break when he heard the commotion of first responders. He looked outside to see firefighters pounding on doors to get people out of the building. DiStefano said he grabbed his shoes and a backpack and left.
DiStefano said he didn’t know what to think of the building’s fire alarm not going off. The building has a fire alarm that had gone off recently during a false alarm, he said.
“You don’t miss the fire alarm in this place,” he said. “It’s loud as hell and I don’t know, I have no idea what happened. If something like this had happened at night and the fire alarm had not [gone off], I don’t even want to think about what the consequences are.”
Chrissie Childers said she was in the building visiting a friend when she was alerted to the fire by a man outside the building. The man was pacing and yelling, she said. She opened a window to better hear the man.
“He said, ‘You need to get out. The building’s on fire,’” she said. “I said ‘What?’ and he said ‘The building’s on fire, for real I’m not joking. The building’s on fire.’”
She told her friend and the two left, she said.
“We didn’t hear [the alarm] going off in the apartment,” Childers said. “Like, usually you hear it, it’s pretty loud. Like the ones they have in the schools or whatever.”
Hodges said firefighters also had heard reports from residents that the apartment building’s alarm had not sounded. Hodges said the building’s fire suppression and notification system will be investigated.
The building is managed by Patriot Services Group. A woman on the scene who identified herself as the manager of the building said she was not able to respond to a question about the fire alarm.
In a statement late Wednesday, Patriot Services Group thanked firefighters for their response and said they’re heartbroken by the hardship the fire has caused.
“We are in ongoing communication and collaboration with authorities on the scene and the Red Cross to ensure the immediate wellbeing and housing needs of the displaced residents are met," the statement reads, in part.
The group, a nonprofit affordable housing provider with programs for “at-risk” veterans, said it would collect donations to be directed toward supporting tenant needs.
Firefighters also were able to rescue a pit bull named “Bullet” from the third floor of the building. Residents Jackie Toler and Martin Peterson were in Dunbar Wednesday afternoon when Peterson’s son called to tell them about the fire.
“My son called me. He said your place is on fire, the roof,” Peterson said. “Maintenance didn’t call, the owner didn’t call. We called the fire department and said we have a dog up there in 17. I went through all these lights to get here.”
Shortly before 5 p.m., firefighters left the building because of fears that it might collapse, Hodges said.
“We’re going to continue to search as we can. However, we are in a defensive operation due to the instability of the building,” Hodges said. “So we pulled all of our firefighters out of the building in fear of some collapse issues. We’re putting a lot of weight on the roof of the building with water, so it is very unstable.”
As of press time Wednesday, firefighters were still on the scene of the fire, a Kanawha County Metro 911 operator said.
