Red Cross provides housing for 15 people left homeless by Saturday blaze at Sedgefield Apartments

The Pee Dee chapter of the Red Cross gave emergency assistance to 15 tenants of Florence’s Sedgefield Apartments after the Saturday fire left them without shelter.

By: | SCNOW
Published: March 21, 2010

The Pee Dee chapter of the Red Cross provided emergency assistance to victims of Saturday’s fire at Sedgefield Apartments in Florence.

According to Executive Director Linda Boone-Smith, 15 people were given vouchers for a hotel.

Francis Marion University student Monica Toole lived in one of the eight apartments that were destroyed by the fire.

“I’m a student and I’m not from around here so without the Red Cross I would’ve had no place to go,” she said.

The Augusta, Ga., native was at home when the fire started Saturday afternoon and said she did not realize the building was burning until someone knocked on her door.

“My apartment was part of the building but I couldn’t smell the smoke until I opened the door,” Toole said. “But when I opened the door the smoke was everywhere.“

She was on the phone with her sister and ran out the door without her wallet or her keys.

Florence firefighters got the call about 1:40 p.m. and arrived to find heavy smoke and some flames visible out the roof of the building, located away from the main apartment complex.

The fire apparently started in the attic — a common attic that ran the length of the building, Capt. Charles Rogers, Florence Fire Department, said. That allowed the fire to spread unchecked through the apartment building.

Toole’s apartment was located on the ground level away from the fire so most of her belongings were destroyed by water damage.

“The minute we walked inside there was water about five inches deep,” she said. “Everything on the floor — furniture, books, my roommate’s couch — was ruined.”

Nobody was injured in the fire and with the assistance from the Red Cross, no one was left without a place to go.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Toole said. “I’m grateful for the police, the fire department, the Red Cross, Sedgefield Apartments, everyone, for making this horrible incident go so smooth.“

To donate to the fire relief fund of the Red Cross, call the Pee Dee Chapter at (843) 662-8121 or send your gift to American Red Cross Pee Dee Chapter 1601-A West Lucas Street Florence, SC 29501.