NORFOLK, Va. – Firefighters with the Norfolk Fire Department responded to an apartment fire at the 6200 block of Chesapeake Blvd. Saturday morning.
Crews were dispatched at 7:11 a.m. and arrived on scene at 7:15 a.m. to find fire coming from the second and third floor of the building.
Fire Chief Worley advised that firefighters found a male victim on the second floor. He was taken to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Six apartment units were damaged and five residents have been displaced. The American Red Cross will be assisting those affected by the fire.
“The person was in there hollering for help and we couldn’t get in there to get him,” said next door neighbor Alfreida Mangum. “We couldn’t get in there to help him.”
Mangum told News 3’s Aleah Hordges that she called 911 when she saw heavy smoke coming out of this apartment unit. She’s now left in despair.
“It hurt me because I couldn’t get in there to help him and nobody else can because it was too much smoke in there,” said Mangum.
Now all that remains is debris.
Neighbors said they woke up to door knocks.
“Fire! you need to get out the house now! Now! get out the house! I grabbed my son, we left out and there was smoke coming from the building,” a neighbor said.
People living nearby said they waited for almost an hour outside to wait for crews to extinguish the fire.
Neighbors like Mangum wished the tragedy never happened.
“I’m sorry that he’s (victim) gone. I’m sorry that he lost his life behind,” added Mangum.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Marshal’s Office.
