A fire tore through a Detroit apartment building early Thursday morning, displacing 12 residents and sending two people to the hospital with serious injuries.
It happened at an apartment complex near LaSalle and Webb in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood on the city's westside. At the Garden on Webb apartment complex, the fire hollowed out several units, displacing families and leaving residents searching for a way forward.
Watch Randy Wimbly's report in the video player below:
Prince Edwards arrived home to find little of it left after the fire gutted his apartment building. He is one of 12 residents displaced from four units.
"I don't know, I gotta figure this out. Like, this is crazy. I never saw this coming," Edwards said.
Now he's concerned about his family's future.
"The winter's coming, and we're homeless now," Edwards said. "And I got kids and everything, bro. This is crazy."
Carl Rogers is another resident who lost his home in the fire.
"As far as my apartment is concerned, everything is burnt out," Rogers said.
Rogers says he lost everything.
"It's terrible knowing that that's your home, you know what I'm saying? And then, under the circumstance that you barely made it out—because I was smoked out, man. I mean, it was really smoky," Rogers said.
For many, the fire came as a complete surprise.
"The firemen did a beautiful job waking us up. They were beating on everybody's windows, telling us 'Fire, everybody get out!'" Deborah Young said.
Young lives on the opposite end of the building, but she knows the residents who lost everything. That includes a couple who considered jumping from a second-floor window onto a mattress to escape the flames—before firefighters rescued them by ladder.
"My friend that stayed right in that apartment, I did see them taking him out on a stretcher, and there was another person they took out," Young said.
That couple, a 53-year-old man and 55-year-old woman, were rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital in serious condition for smoke inhalation. A firefighter was also hospitalized with an ankle injury but has since been treated and released.
Fire investigators were seen combing through the wreckage Thursday afternoon.
The Red Cross is working to assist displaced residents while the apartment complex works to relocate them.
The Detroit Fire Department says residents that need assistance can call the Department of Human, Homeless & Family Services Helpline at 866-313-2520.
Despite the enormity of their loss, many are struck by gratitude.
"I'm just glad my family wasn't here when it happened. That's all," Edwards said.
"It's kind of bad to think about and look at, but be thankful at the same time, because everyone is alive. Like, everyone is alive," Rogers said.
Detroit fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the fire.
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