Apartment fire displaces eight residents
Eight Yuma residents are homeless after a two story apartment building caught fire early this morning.
It happened off South 2nd Avenue around 1:00 a.m. spreading from the apartment complex to a single story home. Yuma fire crews worked for two hours to knock down the flames.
All residents were treated for smoke exposure. Several pets were also found safe and accounted for. The American Red Cross has provided the residents with assistance. For now fire crews remain on the scene to treat hot spots and monitor the structure in case it collapses.
A witness/owner of vacant building next door recalls the moment he found out about the fire.
“i just got a call from my alarm, saying that there was no power on my property and that my neighbors place was on fire. There was water all over my place, thank god it didn’t catch on fire, but I did get affected, because of all that water that went into my place. My floor, my ceiling and quite of few other things were affected.”
The owner of the apartment building Frank Hom, of Hom’s market said he got a call to come down immediately and once he did he found his residents literally trying to get out of the building while holding their pets rushing to safety. Those occupants were evaluated for smoke exposure, however luckily none were taken to YRMC.
One of the residents that lived in the house next to the apartment building has created a go fund me page, so if you or anyone you know wants to helps you can head to www.gofundme.com/lost-everything-a-house-fire
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
UPDATE*
A tragic event as residents and witnesses recall what they saw the morning the flames erupted. It wasn’t until our cameras went down to the scene that we realized the person who sent us pictures of the flames and notified us of the fire was actually an 11-year-old boy. His name Ezekial Nerva and then hours later we received actual video
from his brother showing the scorching blaze that burned down not one but two residences.
Residents that were in the house say they woke up to a loud bang and saw heavy smoke and fire coming from the kitchen of the apartment building across the way. We spoke to mike Erfert with the Yuma Fire Department, to see if he could share any new information.
” There are still concerns regarding the structure itself. The potential for a collapse of the maisonry and what’s left of the building. As a result, it has been fenced off. What is exactly going to be happening with that is still in discussion and at that point we’ll make the best decision as far as public safety goes,” said Erfert.
