CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– Three residents of the Elro Apartments in Charleston are homeless after an early morning fire.
The blaze was first reported around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at the apartment complex on Beauregard Street in the capitol city.
Charleston Fire Captain David Hodges said when the city’s fire crews arrived, the fire had a good head start.
“They were greeted when they arrived with a lot of smoke showing from outside the building so they knew they had a working fire. It was a very complex fire. It got into the walls then went up toward the roof, so they chased it literally throughout the building,” Hodges said.
The fire heavily damaged four apartment units. Three of the units were occupied. Smoke alarms alerted residents of those three units about the fire and they were able to safely escape. The Red Cross is helping those three displaced individuals find temporary housing.
“The cause is going to remain under investigation for now, but we’re leaning toward possibly electrical,” Hodges said.