POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A fierce fire tore through a two-story apartment building causing extensive damage and displacing over 55 residents.
The fire ignited around 2:45 a.m. Monday morning near Northwest Seventh Avenue just off Atlantic Boulevard.
Firefighters managed to bring the situation under control, although numerous units within the building sustained smoke damage.
“This morning, cops telling us to get out get out, get out,” Anthony Johnson said.
Johnson escaped the fire that tore through the roof of the apartment building.
Now, hours later, he has discovered that his life has been reduced to what he can carry in on van.
“It’s soot all the over the the place, you know smoke, everything is damaged from the smoke, clothing, sofas, everything we own,” Johnson said.
Residents hauled out what they could salvage, late Monday.
“Some blankets maybe of few items of clothes, that’s it,” Jasper Moreland said.
Moreland helped his aunt and uncle take what little they could.
“Apartment pretty much burned up, burned to a crisp,” Moreland said. “Starting over is never a good thing, never an easy thing.”
The last thing on anyone’s mind when they ran out of the building in the middle of the night, was to be awakened by the commotion.
“So, I was just brave, I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran out and I was looking at the house,” Isadora Mesdieu said.
Eight-year-old Mesdieu said that what she learned at school helped her know what to do when her apartment caught on fire.
“Just, I learned how to be brave, like when a fire at school starts, so I’m like brave,” Mesdieu said.
Michelle Edmund, a resident in close proximity to the affected unit, said the fire originated in her neighbor’s apartment.
“I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning screaming “There’s a fire! Somebody started a fire in his house,’” said Edmund.
Phylicia Eubanks described her frantic state of panic, uncertain of where to take her children in the midst of the chaos.
“I opened my back door and there was a bunch of black smoke,” she said. “I tried to go through my room door, but [the smoke] was worse. Then I just kept screaming, ‘I have kids,’ ‘Where do we go,’ and ‘How do we get out?’ several times.”
As multiple firefighters arrived at the scene to fight the fire, witnesses, including Eubanks, observed the fire intensify with smoke so dense that it covered the neighborhood.
Briana Rivera said the thick smoke disoriented her, almost causing her to stumble down the stairs in her desperate bid to exit the building. “None of us could really see,” she said. “We almost fell down the stairs trying to get down. I was really scared. this is the most scared I’ve ever been in my life.”
7SkyForce flew above the building, revealing the aftermath of the fire and a breach in the roof where the flames ravaged the structure.
While the tragedy claimed the life of one cat, no human injuries were reported as a result of the blaze.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, we just playing it by ear right now,” said Latrice Cook, who lost her home in the fire.
The American Red Cross has stepped in to assist those affected by the devastating incident.
“For the Fort Lauderdale floods, we used Holiday Park as an example, and we sheltered them there, so that’s what we’re looking to do know with the City of Pompano Beach,” said Paula Prendergrast with the American Red Cross.
Now, Mesdieu and her family are heading to a shelter, where they will begin the process of rebuilding their lives.
It will be a long road ahead for those residents to get back to normal.
Little Desmond, whose grandparents live there, kept his sense of optimism and is sure his favorite toy is still there somewhere.
“Its a tractor monster truck,” Desmond said. “I still have to find it, I know where it is. I always put it in this one pile.”
One of Desmond’s loved ones told 7News they couldn’t find the toy and will get him a new one.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The residents who were displaced were giving a temporary shelter to stay at.
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