A fire ripped that ripped through an apartment complex in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Tuesday night left several residents spending the end of the year trying to start over.
Twenty-eight units at the apartment complex in Laurel sustained smoke and water damage, displacing at least a half dozen families.
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“We actually had a pipe fall through the ceiling in our shower, so that was flooding our bathroom,” resident Claudia Biddle said.
Crews from multiple jurisdictions spent almost two hours battling flames that spread from one building to another.
“We could immediately smell the smoke,” Biddle said. “It hit us, so we grabbed our coats and keys and just walked outside.”
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Danika Blocker was taking the trash out when she noticed the flames inside a top floor apartment.
“I’m just looking and I’m seeing the fire in there, but it looked like they had an electric fireplace,” she said.
Work was done Wednesday afternoon to shore up the building’s structural integrity and protect it from the elements after part of the roof collapsed. Construction crews used plywood to cover broken windows and built a makeshift roof to cover the gaping hole left behind.
The displaced residents are being helped by the leasing office and the Red Cross.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
