news-record.com

WINSTON-SALEM (MCT) — A two-alarm fire severely damaged an apartment complex Tuesday and forced elderly residents to flee their homes.

No residents were hurt, but a Winston-Salem firefighter was taken to a hospital with signs of heat exhaustion.

The fire started shortly after 5:30 p.m. in the Alder's Point complex near the intersection of Mock and Alder streets near the Southeast Gateway project.

When firefighters arrived less than five minutes later, flames were shooting straight up from the building behind the Solo convenience store on Waughtown Street near UNC School of the Arts.

The smoke drifted over Waughtown and Main streets toward Old Salem and the Gateway area. The flames could be seen from parking decks downtown. Small fires within the roof of the complex were still burning at 7:30 p.m.

Six companies of firefighters worked for nearly two hours to get the fire under control. The fire flared up twice in the roof during that period as the fire appeared to burn apartments on the third and second floors. Firefighters on two ladder trucks sprayed water on the fire to put it out.

Firefighters helped evacuate the residents from the 100-unit complex. Residents said that at least 90 people lived there.

Assistant Chief Freddie Broome of the Winston-Salem Fire Department said none of the building's residents were allowed to return to their apartments Tuesday night. The American Red Cross housed them on cots in the Sims Recreation Center last night.

The firefighter who probably suffered from heat exhaustion was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center for treatment, Broome said. His condition was not life-threatening.

Fire investigators had not determined the cause of the fire, where it started or the extent of the damage.

Claude Carter, who lived in a third-floor apartment, said that the fire appeared to have started in an attic on the third floor. He said he heard the fire alarm, went to his balcony and saw smoke coming from an eave.

"When I walked outside, a painter said, 'Get out. Get out,' " Carter said. "There were some other people in the hallway, and they didn't know what to do....This is a terrible thing."