Dozens displaced after fire tears through Montgomery County apartment complex
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The cause of an apartment complex fire which displaced dozens of people in Montgomery County remains under investigation.
The fire on the 12000 block of Clarksburg Square Road was reported around 8 a.m. Saturday. Jala Carter’s family lives in one of the 24 units. She returned Monday to collect what she could from the place she called home for more than three years.
"A scary movie, I’m going to be honest with you," Carter said, describing what it was like to go inside. "I had to brace myself. They did warn me. There’s a lot of damage. It smells really bad. They geared me up in correct PPE to go ahead and enter and just grab a couple of things."
Those few things are the only things that her fiancé Elton Addison said were able to be saved.
"Majority of our house, of course, we can’t grab beds and couches. Everything is destroyed. TV’s, everything. All of the kids’ school clothes that we just bought, shoes," Addison said.
The couple lived there with their four children. Addison remembers Saturday morning starting off routinely before it all changed. There are now signs placed outside of the complex marking the building as condemned and unsafe.
"My two kids, my baby…my 3-year-old and 5-month-old were actually in the bath at the time, so I grabbed them out. Literally no clothes on. My older ones, we ran through here banging on doors, yelling ‘fire, fire!’," he recalled.
According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, the fire was deemed to be a two-alarm fire. At least four people were evaluated and two were transported to the hospital, along with four firefighters who were injured. However, there were none of the injuries reported were considered critical.
Nearly 80 firefighters responded to the blaze Saturday, but they are not the only ones who have answered the call for help. Rhonda Fenstermaker is with The Clarksburg Closet, the volunteer-based clothing bank ministry of the
Cedarbrook Community church.
Fenstermaker said the organization brought what they could to help people Saturday.
"After the experience on Saturday, it makes you appreciate you know…when you see someone, it’s so sad," she said. "They have gone through such a trauma and they lost possibly everything."
The clothing bank located on 23810 Stringtown Road in Clarksburg is welcoming donations.
"What do we need now? As you can imagine, everyone wanted underwear. So, new packaged underwear would be wonderful," Fenstermaker said Monday. "Baby wipes, diapers, we’re always in need of that. Socks, packaged socks."
Carter and Addison said they are staying with family and hotels for the time being. They’re getting their children ready for a new school year, but they’re grateful the fire wasn’t much worse.
"We know almost everyone in the building, you know? To see everyone now without a home, it’s like…be grateful for what you have. It can be taken quick," Addison said. "My mother-in-law said you guys could be planning six funerals, you know? But guess what, we’re here. Thank God for that."
Carter has launched a GoFundMe for her family but told FOX 5, she’s willing to use the funds to help other families that may have been impacted by the fire.