Fire Caused $1.5 Million in Damage

Update 9:45 a.m. Wednesday
A total of 35 residents are displaced this morning after a fire ripped through their apartment complex in Lake Ridge.

The Red Cross has been called into help many displaced yesterday by the massive 2-alarm fire that required 75 firefighters to battle it, according to officials.

The fire started on the balcony, and caused $1.5 million in damage, said Prince William Fire and Rescue Department Battalion Chief Joseph Robertson.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Update 4:30 p.m.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Obenwa. “I didn’t want anything to happen to her because she is so little.”

Fire crews were able to pull Poochie, and many other animals to safety after a fire broke out in a fouth-story apartment at 3695 Golfside Circle, near Smoketown Road in Lake Ridge.

One firefighter suffered minor injuries while fighting the fire, and was treated at a local hospital and released, officials say.

No residents were injured, and fire officials are still investigating what sparked this major blaze that has displaced residents in at least 12 apartment units.

“It appears the fire may have started in the rear of the apartment, possibly on a balcony, because of how intense the fire was on the back side of the building,” said Prince William Fire and Rescue Captain Curt Brodie.

The fire broke out about 1:45 p.m. and was massive. Drivers for miles around on Prince William Parkway could see smoke billowing into the sky.

Fire crews were forced to haul heavy equipment up to the fourth floor to battle the blaze, and two large ladder trucks each equipped with a deck gun fire hose battled flames, one attacking from the front and the other from the rear.

“Anytime you have fire in these conditions, in this temperature, and you have firefighters hauling gear up to a fourth-story apartment, a level of exhaustion sets in quickly,” said Brodie.

School children getting off buses on their way home stared in amazement wondering what had happened, and asked if their homes had been spared by the flames.

Investigators plan to be on the scene throughout the evening taking a closer look at the damage.

It’s not yet known when or residents in the affected buildings will be let back inside their homes.

Update 3:20 p.m.
A third-story apartment on Golf Side Circle in the Dominion Middle Ridge Apartments caught fire Tuesday afternoon.

It’s not clear if anyone was inside of the home when flames broke out, but rescue crews did pull a water-soaked cat from the complex that housed the burning apartment.

That cat was given to it owner, a teenage girl, who cried tears of joy when her cat was back in her arms.

Police have cordoned off the area, blocking all traffic into the affected neighborhood that sits off Smoketown Road.

As school children get off their afternoon school busses, many are coming home and asking how this fire started.

Original Post 2:15 p.m.
Lake Ridge, Va. –– Rescue crews have called for a second alarm for a fire at an apartment complex in Lake Ridge.

According to initial reports, a blaze broke out at an apartment in a 3-story apartment complex on Golf Side Circle, just off Smoketown Road in Lake Ridge about 2 p.m.

It’s not clear if anyone was inside the home when the fire broke out.

Rescue crews are on the scene and we’ll bring you more on this when we have it.