No injuries reported in Columbia apartment fire that left several tenants with no place to stay
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
No injuries were reported in an apartment fire on Monday morning in the 5000 block of Clark Lane, according to a press release from the Columbia Fire Department.
Crews were dispatched to The Links – a Columbia apartment complex area – at 8:25 a.m., according to the release. Fire marshals are investigating the origin and cause of the fire, the release states.
The release states that crews arrived within four minutes and saw smoke and flames in the back side of an apartment building. The fire was contained to one building, but multiple units were affected, the release states.
A woman who wished to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation from The Links, says the fire started around 8:12 a.m. after her neighbor had left her apartment to walk a dog. She made it out safely, but told ABC 17 News she lost 95% of her belongings in the fire and currently has no place to stay.
Tony Jackson’s daughter, Kara was in Kansas City celebrating her recent engagement when she and her fiancé Chris noticed something odd on their doorbell security camera. Their apartment was on fire.
"They called me it was 8 o'clock this morning and said get to the house I said ‘What?' The apartment is on fire!’" Tony Jackson said.
When Jackson arrived the apartment was still on fire. He also saw several tenants outside in the rain.
"There’s families standing there there. This one young couple I met there from out of town and they said ‘What do we do? Where do we go?’", Jackson said. "The management just came and called the corporate office and said ‘They have no responsibility. None.' I said ‘Excuse me you got paid the rent and these kids gotta go find a place you just putting them out.'"
The woman who wished to remain anonymous said her family was left scrambling to find a place to stay. She claimed that management told her they had no additional units available, and that they could not put them in a hotel. She added that after seeing management at the scene of the fire nobody from The Links reached out to her. When she called them around 5 p.m., she claimed she was told by management that they had an inspector going through to inspect the damage and that they should contact the Red Cross.
The woman also said she is waiting to hear from the Red Cross and their insurance company for the next steps on what to do. She added she had to shower at her boss's house because her apartment was covered in ash and the water was shut off.
Jackson said that if not for the security camera from his daughter, would likely still not know about the fire damage because management has yet to reach out. He said that he will be able to take care of his daughter while the damage is repaired, but others may not be so lucky.
"Red Cross didn’t come until like 1 o'clock because the unit The Links didn’t tell them about it and The Links told them that it was only one victim and her dog," Jackson said. "What they are doing to these young people is not right. they just left them out in the rain.”
Jackson added that he offered to let one of the families stay with him until they found a place to stay.
“I’m blessed my daughter has a place to go. Their [daughter's and fiance's] clothes is all smokey so we had to wash everything. my heart goes out to the other residents,” Jackson said. “The Red Cross did offer some help to give them some resources but as far as the links it wasn’t right what they done.”
A spokesperson from The Links told ABC 17 News that they are "working with each tenant affected," but did not give specifics after they were asked for additional comments.
