Copyright 2006 News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
All Rights Reserved
By JONATHAN D. JONES
News & Record (North Carolina)
HIGH POINT, N.C. — A kitchen fire in a Dorothy Street apartment Wednesday forced firefighters to rescue four people from second-floor windows, but left no one seriously injured.
Three people — two adults and a child — were inside the second-floor apartment when it caught fire, said High Point Capt. Denita Lynch, the fire department spokeswoman. They were able to escape unharmed. The two-alarm blaze was the result of a cooking accident.
Four people from neighboring apartments in the Westwood Heights complex were rescued through second-floor windows, Lynch said.
There were also four residents of the eight-apartment building who complained of smoke inhalation, Lynch said. Two were treated at the scene and went to the hospital where they were treated and released.
As a result of the fire, one family of five was displaced and is receiving assistance from the Red Cross, Lynch said.
The apartment complex is owned by Atlantic Insurance and Realty and Vice President Cam Cridlebaugh III was at the scene of the fire. He said the complex is full, but the company has other vacant properties and would try to help any residents who were displaced by the fire find a suitable apartment elsewhere.
“I’m most concerned about the safety of the occupants,” Cridlebaugh said.
Lynch said the apartment directly below the one that caught fire suffered some water damage but that it was not extensive. The fire started about 11:30 a.m. and was under control by noon.