Fire destroys Ridgeland apartment building

A Ridgeland apartment building appears to be a total loss following a massive fire.

The fire was at the Ridgeland Ranch Apartment Complex along County Line Road. It started just after 6:00 Sunday night.

"I watched a little girl, maybe 8, just cry because she didn't have shoes on, only thing she had on was her white shirt and her little dress, and she was just crying her eyes out because she lost all of her toys and everything," says Stacy Morrison, who lives at the complex.

All the residents could do was watch as fire ripped through their home and their belongings. Fire Chief Matt Bailey tells us he got the call around 6:20pm. Residents say firefighters were quick to respond.

"They got here before I even saw flames coming up, so they got here very fast!" says Moriah Hinds Jackson, a Ridgeland Ranch resident.

Chief Bailey says right now, it's not clear what caused the fire, but the construction of the building made it a difficult fire to fight.

"The building is relatively older than most of our other complexes," he says. "It doesn't have a sprinkler system to it, so once it gets into an open space, especially like if it's a common area like the roof structure itself, it's going to take off."

Sure enough, when the fire reached the attic, the flames spread fast.

"They had it under control a couple of times, and it breached into the ceiling," says Chief Bailey. "And once it did that, we're in the process of following it wherever it goes. We've got to go with the fire."

The Chief also says this is the second building in this complex to catch fire. The last one completely burned to the ground. He says it doesn't appear the buildings violate any codes, but without sprinklers in the buildings, the fire spreads very quickly.

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Fire destroys Ridgeland apartment building