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About 19 families are homeless after a fire ripped through a Titusville condo complex Thursday night.
No one was hurt in the fire, but more than a dozen units were damaged at the Shadow Woods condominiums on Shadow Wood Lane in Brevard County. 
The fire started on the balcony of a third-floor unit.
“It quickly progressed and burned through the roof, and we called for a second alarm assignment for more units to come assist us, and the fire continued to spread through the upper floors. We did have multiple roof collapses and structural collapses all the way down to the first floor,” said Titusville Fire Battalion Chief Scott Gaenicke.
Firefighters said the flames were so massive they couldn’t make entry into the apartment building when they first arrived.
Firefighters remained at the scene dousing the building with water Thursday night.
“It’s a dangerous job, and what can seem like a routine, even a large fire, what can be routine can turn out to be really deadly. So we’re really lucky in this case. No injuries to civilians or the firefighters,” said Gaenicke.
American Red Cross officials were at the complex helping the displaced families, and a local church reserved hotel rooms.
“I haven’t gone to sleep yet, so I’ve been thinking about it all night,” said resident James Murray.
Murray and his wife call the building their second home. Just before it got dark Thursday night, he noticed his next door neighbor’s condo was on fire.
“I hollered at my wife, went next door, tried to run in. Got halfway back in there, and it was just, the smoke was so bad. I had a bucket of water, and we couldn’t do anything with it,” he said.
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“If it had happened during the middle of the night, some people would have died,” he said.
The cause of the fire appears to be accidental. Neighbors say the woman who lives in the condo was heating a towel for her hair treatment in the microwave when it caught fire.
Fire crews think the building will be condemned. They’re unsure whether people will be able to gather their belongings that were left behind.
Published at Fri, 28 Mar 2014 15:51:19 +0000
