2008 Woodie Awards
Blaze guts Abbotts Run, students evacuated
Ginny Tyson: Assistant News Editor
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
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Ground Level
Investigators believe a cigarette disposed of in the wood chips surrounding the building to be the cause of the blaze. And, given the dry conditions, the fire ignited and spread quickly to the building. Investigators believe the fire could have been prevented by using a less combustible product for landscaping.
Second Floor
Rachel Phillips, a junior marketing major at UNCW, was in the building on the second floor when the fire started. "I was blow drying my hair with the stereo on and I heard a low murmur. Soon after that, someone was banging on my door and I opened the door and there was smoke everywhere."
Captain Chris Elrod of the Wilmington fire department said alarms and sprinklers did not go off at all during the fire. However, Abbotts Run will not be held responsible because the apartment building was seen as a "casualty of the fire." If the blaze had begun inside the building without alarm notification, Abbotts Run may have been held, at least, partially responsible for the damaged property.
Top Floor
The apartment engulfed in flames was the residence of a newlywed couple currently away on their honeymoon. They will come home to find their belongings virtually destroyed and their home uninhabitable. Firefighters eventually had to tear holes in the roof of the apartment complex to allow for natural ventilation, concentrating the smoke and flames out of the top of the structure.
On the upper level of the building adjacent to 5002, vinyl siding melted off as the flames licked the side of the building. Occupants on the lower level reported water damage as a result of firefighters battling the blaze next-door.
UNCW is offering counseling to any and all students involved in the blaze. The Red Cross offered emergency funding and onsite counseling for the residents. There were no injuries but a lot of personal property damage and memories destroyed. Representatives from Abbotts Run apartment complex provided the homeless victims with a hotel room at the Holiday Inn.
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