COLUMBIA, S.C. — Families spent Wednesday walking through the wreckage after a fire tore through their condominium complex.
One person was hospitalized, and the fire caused the building at Briargate Condominiums over $300,000 in damages.
Chase Evans tried to remain positive despite a tragic start to his week on Wednesday afternoon. His home was one of the 12 units evacuated because of Tuesday's fire.
"The heat got to the window, explored the glass, the fire started to get in, got a little bit of the couch and some equipment," he said. "besides that, completely flooded, the roof- sheet rock just coming from the ceiling, it's all coming down, I'm going to have a time with my insurance company, oh man."
Evans and his neighbors spent the afternoon making trips in and out of the wreckage to gather what they could find after the fire.
"My focus is just to prioritize the valuables, prioritize anything that we need," he said. "Just because you stop, the world doesn't right?"
According to the Columbia Fire Department Chief, Aubrey Jenkins, the two-alarm fire started before 4 p.m. on Tuesday. He said the person transported to the hospital hasn't been released yet.
Chief Jenkins explained the situation with the departments thus far.
"All of them do not have fire damage to them per se, but we have to shut the power off to this whole wing," he said. "The 12 that's on the right side, we have to shut the power off, so we're talking about 11 families being displaced because one of them was not occupied."
This isn't the first fire at Briargate.
According to Chief Jenkins, since 2018, five major fires, including this one, have occurred at the complex, each reporting over $100,000 worth of damages.
Jenkins said none of the units had sprinklers, but that was not a requirement when these homes were built. Therefore, they didn't violate that code, and he credited a firewall for limiting the damage.
"There were no sprinklers in the apartments, so it was a fast-moving fire," he said. "The good thing about it is it does have a firewall, so the firewall stopped it from going all the way across to the second section of this apartment, so it's totally in check on the first section."
Jenkins said the Richland County Fire Marshal's office is still investigating the fire. Evans said that although he has no home right now, he is confident things will work out.
"I already have accommodations; I already have that settled out," Evans said. "It's just things; we can always get those back."