LAUREL, Del. - 55 people, including children, are now homeless after an apartment building caught on fire Thursday night in Western Sussex County. Now, the community is uniting to provide all of the victims with necessities and shelter.
The Rigbie Gardens Apartments in Laurel was in flames Thursday night around 11 PM. Huge smoke clouds could be seen miles away and fire fighters worked for hours trying to put out the fire. Now, majority of the building lies on the ground covered in smoke and its foundation still burns.
The Laurel Town Manager is devastated by the incident.
“Obviously, they lost everything that they had and it's just heartbreaking to see these families sitting at the fire hall. Looking at the devastation on their face was just heartbreaking,” says Jamie Smith.
The Laurel Fire Departments Banquet Hall is where the victims were transported to receive further assistance. We spoke with the assistant chief to explain their role.
“Our initial crews arrived on scene, they started the evacuation of the building. They were evacuated into a bus into the M&T parking lot. At that time, after they were all evacuated and accounted for, they transported back here via the bus to the fire department hall.
The owner of A&K enterprises says many people and businesses came together to provide the victims with food and clothes.
“Everybody donated jackets and blankets. We can use everything. We're a drop-off point here. These kids will need school clothes again and the school uniforms for Laurel,” says Kim Littleton.
The Laurel Fire Department says everyone evacuated safely and they're still investigating what caused the fire. The apartment's landlord tells WBOC the building recently passed an electrical inspection. The landlord also says the fire department informed them that it was not an electrical issue.
