Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

Apartments wrecked by Murrells Inlet fire

MURRELLS INLET -- Melissa Norris hadn't been home 10 minutes when her unit at Wachesaw Place on Lomax Court caught fire.

Norris had walked outside to get some stuff out of her car when she heard a commotion next door, she said.

Residents had noticed her neighbor's house on fire.

Firefighters received a call at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday that there was a fire on Lomax Court, said Chief Norman Knight with the Murrells Inlet/Garden City Fire Department.

There were reports that there was heavy fire and smoke showing, Knight said.

Norris said she ran and got an extinguisher and gave it to her neighbor to put the fire out, but it wasn't enough.

The fire started in the rear of the apartment units after something went wrong while a man was working on a mo-ped on his porch, Knight said.

Mark Berry, who lives in a unit across from the ones that caught fire, said he was on his back porch when he saw the smoke.

"I thought someone was burning pine straws," Berry said. He said his friend opened the door to his house and saw that Norris' neighbor's house was on fire.

"That's when the fire started shooting out the back of the house," Berry said. "The gas and air conditioner blew up. The fire started spreading like crazy."

Knight said two units were heavily damaged and two others received water and smoke damage.

"They should be able to get them back in shape relatively quick," Knight said of the units that sustained damage.

Norris' home has major damage, but was not totally destroyed. She said she wasn't able to get anything out of her house. Someone was able to get her cat out of the house.

Investigators have determined that the fire was accidental, Knight said.

Firefighters with Murrells Inlet/Garden City, Midway Fire Rescue, Surfside and Horry County had the fire under control and out within 30 minutes, Knight said. Red Cross was also on the scene to help the families affected.

Knight said no one was hurt.

Berry, whose daughter called one of the residents at work whose house was on fire, ran around to try and find that resident's children.

"I was trying to find the kids in one of the units because I knew the [woman] that lived there, that's what I was worrying about were the kids."

Berry was later told that the children got out of the house with their dad.

One of the kids heard the noise and went and told their dad the house was on fire, Berry said.