A Thursday night apartment fire in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, displaced four families who lost nearly everything. Eli Hudson got his neighbors out. His dog, Azul, did not survive.
Hudson told WDRB he saw darkness at his apartment window and suspected his home was on fire. He ran into the burning apartment looking for Azul, then banged on neighbors' doors until they were out. No one was hurt.
What He Found Going Back
Hudson is staying with a friend while he figures out what comes next. He returned to the building to see whether anything could be saved.
The spot where Azul was found looked almost untouched. "Just got a little ring around where he was," Hudson said.
An Open Cause, And Offers Of Help
The landlord said the fire started because of an electrical issue with an outlet. The Mount Washington Fire Department said the official cause is under investigation.
The landlord’s explanation remains preliminary; the fire department has not announced an official cause. Nationally, electrical malfunctions caused an estimated 26,400 residential building fires in 2024, resulting in 255 deaths and 800 injuries. They accounted for 7.7% of residential fires that year—figures that provide context, but do not establish what caused the Mt. Washington blaze. The U.S. Fire Administration’s electrical-fire estimates show the scale of the broader risk.
Hudson has received more than 200 messages offering help. The four families are accepting donations as they recover.
Mt. Washington has seen a similar apartment-fire displacement before: in October 2023, a fire damaged a four-unit building and left residents looking for somewhere else to live. Neighbors rallied to help those families gather clothes and shoes as they tried to resume daily life. The earlier fire and community response offer a local parallel to the housing loss and offers of assistance facing residents now.
