‘It was a scary moment;’ Dozens displaced, 2 hospitalized after apartment fire in Butler County
Dozens of people are displaced and two people are hospitalized following an apartment fire Thursday morning in Butler County.
>>RELATED: 1 firefighter, 1 other hospitalized from 3-alarm apartment fire in Butler County
As News Center 7 previously reported, firefighters were dispatched to the 8200 block of Meeting Street around 12:30 a.m. Thursday on initial reports of an apartment fire. Medics transported a firefighter and another person to the hospital.
The firefighter had heat-related injuries while medics transported one resident for inhaling smoke, according to West Chester Fire Chief Rick Prinz.
The apartment has three floors with 24 units and the fire spread to every floor forcing all residents to evacuate, Prinz told our news partner WCPO in Cincinnati.
He said the attic gave firefighters the most trouble.
“At one point in time, we thought the roof was going to collapse,” said Prinz. “We ordered the building to be evacuated and we went defensive on the fire and fought it from the outside.”
>>Fire rips through large apartment building, dozens displaced
One woman who escaped with her daughter said she was getting into bed when she saw flames.
“I think the adrenaline just, you know, just like I said, I woke my daughter up immediately like, ‘We got to go right now, Gabrielle,’ and just want to get out and be safe,” Marissa McMurtry told WCPO. “It was like, it was a scary moment. We’ve never been through something like this before. I covered up my face just because it was, I guess the smoke was already pretty intense.”
The Red Cross is helping those displaced.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
