BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — An apartment building, housing multiple units, has been destroyed in an early morning fire in Barboursville.
The blaze at the Garden Park Apartments on Pea Ridge went up in flames Tuesday.
Resident Julia Hightower told MetroNews she smelled something at about 1 a.m. She said she thought someone was burning food.
“It was like something in my heart that was telling me it wasn’t that. In my mind it was the Lord telling me, ‘You need to get something is wrong,'” Hightower said.
She looked out her front door and saw smoke coming out of her neighbor’s apartment.
“At the point, I went back into my apartment, grabbed my dogs and my keys and got out of my apartment,” she said.
Seven fire crews responded to the scene to find flames moving through 21 apartments. The units have been declared a total loss.
One resident suffered burn injuries and a firefighter suffered a neck injury.
Hightower said there could have been more serious injuries had it not been for one of her neighbors.
“There was one guy who was pounding on the doors waking up everyone upstairs and downstairs,” Hightower said. “I’m very thankful for that one neighbor, because as quickly as it was engulfing, it could have potentially saved somebody.”
The Red Cross is on the scene providing assistance.
There’s no early word on what started the blaze.
Hightower said firefighters were able to save an item she holds very dear.
“I have a bear that my great-grandmother gave me that was my great-grandfather’s and it was hardly touched. I was very blessed with that, the fire department went back in for me to get that one item,” Hightower said.