CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Eight people, including a child, are without a home after a fire damaged a trio of homes in Chesapeake Friday night.
The Chesapeake Fire Department was still on the scene just after midnight Saturday. They got the call for a fire in the 100 block of Ford Street at 9:52 p.m. after several residents reported a shed on fire, according to Capt. Steven Bradley, assistant fire marshal and public information officer for the Chesapeake Fire Department.
While on their way, firefighters learned that the fire had spread to two homes on Ford Street and was melting the side of a third home on Alice Street, Bradley said.
The side of Yvonne Parker’s home is peeled after the fire, and her ring camera caught the entire ordeal.
She said after the flames started, her husband jumped into action to save their house.
“My husband grabbed the hose to keep it wet and it just ignited,” Parker said.
Firefighters arrived just before 10 p.m. and found heavy fire to the shed and to the rear of two neighboring homes, Bradley said.
Police and firefighters were able to verify that everyone inside the homes had gotten out safely, Bradley said.
Parker got emotional as she thought back to how close the flames were to her home.
“I was scared, I was scared to death,” Parker said. “I was like, it’s getting bigger and then the smoke just got wider, and it engulfed everything and I’m like, no words.”
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Firefighters used multiple hose lines in a combination attack on several adjacent structures, Bradley said, and the fire was declared under control at 10:19 p.m.
Seven adults and one child have been displaced due to significant fire damage, Bradley said, and they are receiving lodging help from the Red Cross.
Medics evaluated one person for smoke inhalation, but that person did not need to be taken to the emergency room, Bradley said.
Reverend Vincent Tucker Sr. told 10 On Your Side he and other people in the neighborhood comforted the affected families as they watched their homes go up in flames.
“This community is over 100 years old,” Tucker said. “So, everyone knows everyone, it’s a generational community and when someone loses it affects all of us.”
Parker said the fire could’ve been even worse, surveillance video from her yard capturing firefighters pulling propane tanks out of the flames.
“That’s disturbing right there, that’s disturbing,” she said, pointing to the propane tanks laying half in her yard. “Just thank god that they weren’t hurt or worse.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.