Fire consumes apartment building
in Gray
By Julie Fann
Star Staff
jfann@starhq.com
A Sunday morning fire consumed
an apartment building at 108 Furchess Drive, Gray, Tenn.,
leaving approximately 30 people homeless, according to authorities.
"There were approximately 30 people
out on the front lawn with what little they could carry out
of the apartment before it went up. About ten or 12 of them
were kids ages 2 to in their teens," said Kevin Sanders, an
officer with the Washington County Sheriff's Department.
The fire started around 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, and one of the tenants of the building called 9-1-1.
The Gray, Sulfur Springs, Jonesborough, and Embreeville Volunteer
Fire Departments responded, as well as the Washington County
EMS, the American Red Cross, and the Salvation Army.
"It spread through the roof and eventually
burned the whole building to the ground," Sanders said. The
source of the fire was not known; however, authorities didn't
suspect foul play to be a factor in the incident.
"It was an older building built prior
to the time of fire code enforcement, which is the reason
it spread so quickly," said Sanders.
The apartment building contained
ten separate units.
According to Sanders, several vehicles
also were destroyed in the fire because the environment was
too hazardous for firefighters to get in and move them.
Pamela Hale, Executive Director of
the Johnson City/Washington County American Red Cross, said
that all of the families had somewhere to go after the fire.
"We did not have to open up a shelter.
We were prepared to, but that didn't occur. I suspect in the
morning we will start providing emergency needs," Hale said.
"We provide clothing, food, money to re-locate. We work with
the victims individually on a case-by-case basis."
Hale said the difficulty that exists
for Red Cross workers is finding out who the actual residents
of the building are because so many people arrive at the scene
of such a horrible event.
Hale was anticipating a fax to be
sent to her from the owner of the building Sunday evening
that would list the names of the actual tenants.
Those who were tenants of the building
were encouraged to call the Red Cross office in Johnson City
at 928-3561.
