Apartment fire displaces 18 elderly residents in Easton
EASTON, Md. – Easton Police say 18 elderly residents at the Asbury Senior Complex were displaced after a fire broke out on Friday afternoon.
“Friday we received a call at approximately 12:17 for an automatic fire alarm sounding at the Asbury place,” said Easton Police Corporal Shayne McKinney.
Deputy State Fire Marshals say it seems a broken HVAC unit on the second floor of the building is what sparked Friday’s blaze forcing seniors to leave their home.
Now broken glass and burnt walls serve as grim reminders of the tragedy.
“They were immediately told to start evacuation, which they did,” said McKinney.
“We later learned that there was heavy smoke and fire was on the second floor with one person possibly trapped inside,” said McKinney.
Staff at the Domino’s Pizza in front of the building said one of their delivery drivers spotted smoke coming out of a window and immediately called first responders to warn them.
“As you drive by the building, there’s a window on the side, and it looks like an air conditioning unit, and he saw the smoke bellowing out, so he actually pulled around and called the fire department,” said Ashley Whiting, an employee at the Domino’s Pizza.
According to Deputy State Fire Marshals, it took about 70 firefighters to help control the blaze, a nightmare for the community.
“It was kind of chaos,” said McKinney.
“It’s right in the middle of town on Dover Street, so there was a lot of traffic activity, especially at that time of the day on a Friday afternoon,” said McKinney.
“They were here for about two hours completely blocked everything and firefighters, cops everywhere,” said Whiting.
Deputy State Fire Marshals also said there is a total of $20,000 dollars in damages as a result of the blaze.
“There is an investigation underway, and it’s the Deputy State Fire Marshal here out of the Eastern Region and also the building inspector for the Town of Easton is also involved with the investigation,” said McKinney.
According to police, the residents were evacuated to a nearby church and they are being assisted by the American Red Cross.
