A devastating fire engulfed an apartment complex in Wayne County near Goldsboro on Sunday, leaving four persons hospitalized and displacing some 50 residents, as emergency crews from multiple agencies including Goldsboro firefighters, Rosewood volunteer firefighters, and Wayne County EMS, joined forces in response to the calamity, local officials reported.
One of the residents, Dishonda Weeks, expressed to CBS 17 the overwhelming sense of loss stating, "We’re homeless, plain and simple as that," Weeks, who had been residing in the apartment for nearly five years, faces uncertainty about the state of her belongings due to extensive water damage, though her own dwelling was not consumed by flames, this tragedy cuts deep as it disrupts lives across the community, wrenching residents from their abodes into the fold of displacement where questions loom larger than answers.
Following the fire, the American Red Cross swiftly erected a temporary shelter near the site to aid those affected, while investigating agencies declared the fire 'accidental', the revelation brought little solace to the victims grappling with the immediacy of their newfound plight, according to an interview Flotilla Stewart, a local resident, gave to WRAL, where she recounted smelling what she initially thought was somebody burning paper before realizing the grave danger and acting with haste to alert her neighbors.
ABC11 reported that local residents, including Stewart, offered shelter to displaced neighbors, especially families with children. Emergency services responded quickly, but the fire has left many people needing to rebuild their homes and lives.
