Multiple agencies respond to three-story apartment fire in West Ashley

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Fire officials are investigating the cause of an apartment fire in West Ashley Sunday afternoon.

Multiple units with the Charleston Fire Department responded to an apartment fire near the 3500 block of Mary Ader Ave. around 3:45 p.m., officials said.

The fire department said multiple agencies responded to the three-story fire at Colonial Grand at Cypress Cove.

Charleston Fire Department Chief Fire Marshal Mike Julazadeh said the building was quickly evacuated, and no one was hurt in the fire. The fire was extinguished and crews are working on overhaul through the night, according to officials.

“That’s a wonderful system we have here in Charleston, we’re bringing a lot of units here very quickly. Overall, right now we have about 30 units on the scene. And that accounts for about 70 to 75 personnel. So, we assembled a lot of people in a short amount of time to very quickly deal with the situation,” Julazadeh said.

He also said the crews arrived on the scene six minutes after the fire was called in. He said the fire was very difficult to control after it was extended into the attic.

Multiple cats and dogs were rescued, Julazadeh said. He said there are still four cats missing.

Julazadeh said Red Cross responded to the scene to help residents.

“Still like with an at home fire or anything like that this is one of the biggest I’ve seen it’s affected like around 10 plus apartment... I’m kind of wondering what is gonna happen. I heard the kid, he does not want to go to school tomorrow but where you sleep tonight and stuff like that,” resident Matthew Akurs said.

The cause of the fire is still unknown at this time.

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