Families displaced in University Place apartment fire
Updated: Jul 7, 2015 - 8:20 AM
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. - West Pierce fire officials say a fire that broke out at a University Place apartment complex displaced 19 people.
The fire broke out at the Devonshire Apartments at 27th and Mountain View Drive West Tuesday morning.
Officials said all occupants at the complex were accounted for and no one was hurt, but eight adults and 11 children were displaced as a result of the fire. The Red Cross will offer them assistance.
The fire was under control by about 8:20 a.m.
"This is Lilly. She is 19 months, say hi," said Darla Smith looking at her baby girl.
Smith and three of her kids were huddled in their car Tuesday morning, with nothing but the clothes on their backs after escaping the apartment fire.
They are tired and shaken but grateful to have escaped the flames that quickly spread from the roof of the Devonshire apartments along 27th Street West and Mountain View West in University Place.
"Guess I'm going to have to start all over," said Smith.
Neighbors knocked on doors at around 7:15 a.m. - telling residents like Olivia Mason to get her kids out.
“I had to wake them up out of their sleep and we all just had to get out. It was pretty scary," said Mason carrying a small box with the only belongings she could get from inside her destroyed apartment.
It took West Pierce firefighters a little more than an hour to get the fire under control.
By then, the roof caved in on several units, displacing eight adults and 11 children.
“We actually just got back into town from Illinois last night and this is what we woke up to this morning," said Mason.
Incredibly, in a panic, Smith wasn't thinking straight about which kids were out and who may have still been inside.
"I put them out in the car and for some split second I thought 'Oh, my son's still sleeping in the living room' so I ran back in there to make sure then I remembered he was at his friend's house. So it was pretty hard," said Smith tearing up.
The Red Cross is helping Smith and the other families.
As for the attic fire, the older building is not required to have a sprinkler system but does have working smoke alarms.
The fire department spokesperson told KIRO 7 an exact cause won't be known for at least another day.
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