CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A child and woman were injured in a Friday night apartment fire in Chesapeake that significantly damaged eight units, a fire official said.
Eight apartments at the Hunter’s Point Apartment complex in the Portlock area of the city sustained significant fire, smoke and water damage, Chesapeake assistant fire marshal and public information officer Lt. Robert Warren said. The adult woman was transported in critical condition, and the child was transported with minor injuries,
Firefighters were dispatched to the 2000 block of Linster Street, and when crews arrived five minutes later, they saw heavy smoke and flames on the first and second floor, and they were told of people that were possibly inside several of the apartments, Warren said.
Crews deployed multiple hoselines and they began searching the structure, rescuing a child from a second-floor apartment and a woman from a first-floor apartment, Warren said. Both were taken to a local emergency room.
The fire was declared under control at 10:58 p.m.
None of the eight damaged apartments can be reoccupied, and Warren said eight families were displaced, totaling nine adults and 11 children. They all received assistance from the Red Cross.
A neighbor described the scene to 10 On Your Side.
“It started with little flames and then it went up and it spread, and we could hear the lady screaming,” Roberta De La Cruz said, “”You see all the flames, red and blue flames and stuff like that and then you see it coming toward your house and my grandkids were in here – it was scary.”
She spoke of the moment a neighbor acted quick to save the little boy who was trapped inside.
“He came and the guy put the truck up and he pushed the window out and told the baby please jump you’ve got to jump and when he jumped, he grabbed him.”
She said the smoke forced her to have to evacuate.
It was hours before she could come home.
“I left with my daughter, and I couldn’t come back in all night, I couldn’t come back home.”
She was close to tears thinking about the fact that is now the reality for 20 people after this fire.
“And the baby doesn’t have anything for school now. He was terrified, he was really scared.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.
