Fire ripped through Coral Springs apartment building
FORT LAUDERDALE - A fire ripped through a Coral Springs apartment building overnight.
Six units in the building in the 10700 block of La Placida Drive were gutted, according to fire officials.
Those who lived in the units have been displaced but said they are lucky to be alive.
"My next door neighbor pounded on my door she said there's a fire," said Sean Warden.
He lost everything in the fire.
"I didn't expect it to get so big so quick. Police came here at the same time they wouldn't let me back into my house to get my cats," said Warden.
Ultimately, firefighters let Warden back in to save his pets and they rescued several others as well.
A neighbor who came to help described what he saw as he ran toward the burning building.
"It was engulfed in an inferno. The heat instantly hit you in the face from over 100 feet away," said Ryan Stauffer.
At one point, the building's roof collapsed.
Coral Springs deputy fire chief Mike Moser the collapse helped.
"Where the roof is already open, it does make it a little bit easier to access the fire. But because it's so spread out from all six units we had to attack it from multiple angles," he said.
So what's next for residents, when will they be allowed to return to the building?
"It's condemned currently by the building department and once the crews finish their investigation they will allow crews to come in here and clean up. Based on the damage it's unlikely it will be occupied for a while," said Moser.
No one was injured in the fire. What sparked it is under investigation.