VIDEO: Vernon Alabama Apartment Fire

VERNON, Ala.(WCBI)- A late night fire claims the homes of five Vernon Alabama residents.

The Red Top apartments caught a blaze late Saturday night.

I hit the road to Alabama today to check out the damage and see what the community is doing to help.

“Now they have to start all over. It is a devastation to our town our city but most of all to some of our residents,”Vernon Mayor Glenn Crawford.

Saturday night, minutes even seconds counted for residents of the Red Top Apartments.

“It’s a devastation to the families. We have at least five families that have been displaced now they’ve lost everything they own. We look at this kind of like the storms from a few months ago they are without anything,”said Crawford.

The Vernon volunteer Fire Department received the call around 11:36 last night. Vernon Mayor Glenn Crawford says it was only moments before help arrived.

” Talked to the police department this morning they were able to come and in just a matter of minutes get everyone out of the apartment . Even though it was in just one apartment area when they got here they went ahead and cleared the apartment cleared the ones around it and people who lived beside it as well. There is no lose of life and nobody suffered any injury they were able to get them all out,”said Crawford.

Crawford said once word got out about the fire the surrounding areas jumped to lend a helping hand.

“The Vernon Fire Department got the first call. Once they saw what was going on they did call for assistance. Just about every volunteer fire department in the county came. The City of Sulligent sent a crew and come trucks. Millport, Kennedy, Star Sunny Side, Henson Springs a lot of communities around here fell in. Not just sending the fire apparatus but also a lot of the volunteers from those services came, even though they didn’t make the fire call, they just came in their personal vehicles and helped out “said Crawford.

It took the teams roughly an hour to contain the flames. Crawford says this is a tragedy but when one Vernon residents is down it impacts the whole city.

“The families should be able to reach out to the local red cross . There will be numerous families to donate. I’ve noticed on Facebook already a lot of people asking and giving sizes of clothes and giving basic necessities the people needed,”said Crawford.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. If you would like to donate to the victims of this fire you are asked to call Vernon City Hall at (205) 695-7718.