Starkville townhomes damaged from Christmas Eve fire
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Holiday season is usually filled with joy, happiness and giving.
But this Christmas has been marred by a number of fires displacing area families..
One of those happened on Christmas Eve in Starkville where a blaze broke out in a complex of townhomes, resulting in major damage.
Christmas Eve, firefighters from Starkville’s Fire Station 3 responded to a blaze at a 4 unit apartment complex on Central Avenue.
“When they arrived on scene they basically saw fire coming out of all sides of the building,” Mark McCurdy said.
Firefighters were able to contain most of the flames with one out of the four units suffering major damage and the rest having minor smoke damage.
Fire Marshal Mark McCurdy said five people inside the building during the fire were evacuated safely.
“The one thing that we are very thankful for is that no one was hurt, no one was injured with the building being occupied like it was,” McCurdy said. “We are very fortunate that everybody got out safely and nobody was injured. I know it’s sad that the thing can happen around the Christmas time but very fortunate that nobody was injured.”
The fire department was also able to rescue a pet dog.
McCurdy said there are some safety measures residents can take to lessen the chances of a fire.
“One thing that we always try to press upon people is working smoke detectors even if you’re home during the event, the smoke detectors will give you early warning so it gives you the adequate time to escape and get out of the building before you get hurt or injured,” McCurdy said.
There are also things you can do if a fire breaks out in your home.
“So we really like for people to check their smoke detectors make sure they’re up and another thing is if you have a fire extinguisher and if you are home during the time then you can grab your fire extinguishers and try to put it out before it has a chance to grow,” McCurdy said.
The Starkville Fire Department said the cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
