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A fire displaced several families and destroyed an apartment off Providence Road on Sunday evening, but no injuries were reported, officials said.
The fire, at the Providence Square Apartments near Providence Road and Olde Providence, was reported shortly after 5 p.m. Residents who fled their three-story apartment homes said it spread quickly.
“It went from smoke to engulfed in a minute,” said Jasmine Howard, who lives in one of the nearby apartments. She was standing outside with her three children as firefighters hosed down hotspots and dug through the wreckage in the burned-out apartment. “It happened really fast.”
Kelly Drewery, who lives next-door to the burned apartment, said a neighbor banged on her door and screamed the apartment next door was on fire. She and her daughters and two grandchildren ran outside, some without shoes.
“When I came out the front, the flames were up the whole side. It was just fire coming out of the windows,” Drewery said.
Neighbors said most of the family that lives in the burned apartment was in South Carolina, and only one person was at home. Charlotte Fire Department Capt. Mark Basnight said 60 firefighters were called out to control the blaze. At least 13 people were displaced from their homes.
Basnight said the fire is under investigation, and a cause and damage estimate were not available late Sunday.
