Newport News, Va. High-Rise Fire Hospitalizes One, Displaces 37

March 08--Shawn Burgess was watching television in an eighth-story apartment at The Towers in Newport News on Friday afternoon when an alarm diverted his attention to a different kind of show -- a fire in the apartment directly above him.

Immediately, he scrambled to alert his cousin, who is disabled and was asleep at the time.

"I was just worried about getting him out, " Burgess said.

Burgess carried his cousin down four floors before someone else helped out the rest of the way down.

Emergency dispatchers began receiving calls about the blaze at the 12-story apartment building just before 1 p.m.

Firefighters arrived to the 700 block of Waterfront Circle within four minutes and were able to contain the fire to the ninth-floor apartment where it started, said Newport News Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Lay. While the fire was still under investigation as of Friday evening, Lay said a resident was cooking food on the stove at the time.

About 200 people live in the building and most were allowed to return to their apartments by Friday evening. The fire displaced 37 residents in 21 apartments, and the building manager told the Newport News Fire Department that lodging has been arranged for those residents, Lay said.

One person was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, Lay said.

The Red Cross provided food and clothing assistance to three residents, said Robert Shapiro, spokesman for the Red Cross' Eastern Virginia Region. The organization had emergency lodging available to residents, but none had requested it as of Friday afternoon.

It was not the first time a fire displaced residents of the building. In February 2005, a blaze at The Towers left 34 people homeless but no injuries were reported.

On Friday, Towers resident Sharon Tolliver and her husband knocked on neighbors' doors to let them know about the fire and helped get bedridden residents out of the building. Because both her son and daughter work for fire departments in South Carolina, Tolliver said she felt she had to do what she could to help her neighbors.

"I can't leave nobody in there to burn, no way," she said.

Crystal Chapman, who is a caretaker for resident Patricia Parker, said it took 15 minutes to get Parker, who is paralyzed from the waist down, out of her bed from her second-story apartment.

"Thank God the elevator was still working," Chapman said outside of the building, with Parker in a wheelchair and wrapped in a blanket.

Michelle Lavender was watching television Friday when she heard several loud knocks at her door.

"They were banging at the door saying it was a fire," she said.

The Newport News resident grabbed a coat, slipped on flip-flops and exited her first floor apartment.

She said many of her neighbors were doing the same thing.

"The alarms were going off, but everyone was calm," Lavender said.

James Hicks, who was visiting family on the 10th floor, began knocking on doors and telling residents to get out after hearing the fire alarm. Hicks said his priority was making sure his grandchildren were safe.

Lavender was concerned about the older residents who were waiting outside the apartment building with him in the wind and rain.

"I can handle it. They can't," she said.

Several buses were sent to the scene to get residents out of the weather.

From a neighboring home, resident Sheila Taylor said once she got out of the building, she could see flames and two people in the window of an apartment.

"Jesus was with them," Taylor said.

Castillo can be reached by phone at 757-247-4635. Vaughn can be reached by phone at 757-247-7870. Daily Press archives were used in this story.