DUBLIN, Ohio — Eleven families were displaced after a fire in the early morning hours of Sunday. The American Red Cross has been helping those residents find places to stay in the interim.
“I knew three or four of the people who lived over there. I definitely feel bad for them,” said Chase Seymour, a Camden Place resident. “The fire was crazy. It was like a blowtorch, the top of the house. It was reaching over. The flames were almost all the way over the ceiling and sparks were going everywhere.”
Seymour said he and his girlfriend were woken up by a neighbor pounding on their door to alert them to the fire. When they got up, the fire was lighting up their living room through the window. They grabbed their dog and got out. When they returned to their apartment, the fire burned so intensely, it cracked their living room window.
“There were a bunch of ashes, like fiery ashes going and hitting the top of my building. We were worried about that. It was pretty crazy,” he said.
Residents in the burned building talked to 10TV off camera. One woman lost everything in the fire as her unit was across from the one where the fire started. A man on the other end of the building was moving in with his daughter due to the smoke and water damage.
The American Red Cross was back at the complex Monday afternoon to get to people they didn’t get to Sunday.
“It's an ongoing process. Some people need a little boost. Some will need a bigger boost. The Red Cross tries to be there through every step of the way until that normal level is achieved, whatever that means to them," said Don Hawkins with the American Red Cross. “When we open these cases, it's not 'we're going to open this up, give you this card, and close it and you’re on our way.' It's how can we help replace medications that are lost? Replace clothes? How can we help you in every facet of getting you back to normal?”
The money from the Red Cross can be used however the affected residents see fit. It can be used to cover hotel expenses or replace medications and clothing lost in the fire.
Columbus Division of Fire did not have an update on what could have caused the fire.