Fire Strikes Apartment Building

COMMUNITY

By Staff Reports

A three-story apartment building in the 600 block of Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro caught fire on Monday, May 24, at 6:10 a.m. Members of the Carrboro Fire Rescue Department responded to the fire. 

When responding fire crews arrived, they found smoke and fire showing from the roof and upper floor of the building. 

As the fire crews were initially deploying hose lines to fight the fire, a roof collapsed in the third-floor hallway/breezeway. The crews were safely able to extricate themselves from the collapsed roof and return to the ground floor. At this point, ladder trucks from Carrboro and Chapel Hill began to fight the fire with elevated large-caliber water streams from above the roof. 

After the main body of fire was extinguished, fire crews entered the apartments to extinguish hidden fire and confirm the fire was fully out. The fire was officially declared under control at 7:02 a.m. Because of the number of occupants and the amount of fire visible, the alarm was quickly upgraded to a two-alarm blaze to bring additional personnel to the scene.

Because the fire was in the building’s attic, the smoke detectors in individual apartments did not activate. The fire caused significant damage to all third-floor apartments, while apartments on the first and second floor suffered water damage and some fire damage. 

Two residents were treated on the scene, and one was transported to the hospital due to smoke inhalation. A resident’s pet dog was also treated on scene with oxygen by fire department personnel.

The entire building was deemed uninhabitable, and the town’s code compliance division is working with property management. Initial damage estimates to the building and property are approximately $1.4 million.

The preliminary cause of the fire is accidental. Carrboro Police officers assisted at the scene with crowd control and traffic direction. N.C. State Bureau of Investigation; N.C. Office of the State Fire Marshal; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Chapel Hill Fire Department assisted in the investigation of the fire.

Carrboro received assistance from Chapel Hill, White Cross, North Chatham and Orange Grove fire departments. Emergency medical help came from South Orange Rescue Squad and Orange County EMS. The American Red Cross was on the scene to help assist with displaced residents.