Apartment Building Destroyed

By Debbie Gregory

A call came in around 6:05 a.m. on Saturday morning, October 27, that the Cherry Street Apartment building was on fire. 

 

The Lafayette Fire Department responded to 701 Cherry Street, and according to Captain Phillip Smith, upon arrival he could see a light haze of smoke and a little glow of fire in an upper level window of the multi family residential building. The fire quickly spread throughout the roof of the block exterior, frame interior two story structure – that was built in the 1940’s.

According to Assistant Chief Don Stevens, the fire was overhead in the ceiling that had a metal roof, which covered the previous flat tar roof, and there was no way to safely access the fire.

There were 27 firefighters on the fire scene and Westmoreland Fire Department sent four firemen, following a mutual aid call for manpower.

The fire reportedly started on the left front side of the upstairs ceiling area, but the cause is still undetermined.

Assistant Chief Stevens said there were eight apartments in the building, and five were rented out. “The American Red Cross and Macon Helps are aiding these displaced renters, and luckily no one was injured,” said the Assistant Chief.

The firefighters were on the fire scene until 4:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Chief Troy Brawner was in charge of the scene.

The appraised value of the building is $115, 300 and it was a total loss.

The owner of the building is Kingdom Investors of Lebanon, Tn.

Those responding to the scene were the Lafayette Fire Department, Westmoreland Fire Department, Macon County EMS, Lafayette Police Department, Macon County Sheriff’s Office, and the Macon County Chronicle.