'It breaks my heart': Residents without home after fire destroys Tampa apartment building
TAMPA, Fla. - Multiple tenants have seemingly lost everything after a fire destroyed an apartment building in Tampa. The stubborn blaze raged for more than eight hours Tuesday at the Kansas Avenue Apartments before firefighters were finally able to put it out.
Residents are hoping they can go in at some point and see what there is if anything to salvage, but right now it's too dangerous. The building is boarded up, so many are forced to start over with nothing.
"I was honestly in huge shock and still am a bit and just a little bit disbelief that it came to that," Lauren Copeland, a resident in the apartment building, said.
For the last two years, Copeland has called the Kansas Avenue Apartments home. Tampa Fire Rescue were called to the complex after multiple people called 911 to report smoke coming from the roof.
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For almost nine hours, crews had two aerial hoses on full blast dowsing the fire with water from above until the last few hot spots were put out around 10 p.m. Now, all that's left is a heavily damaged, boarded-up building residents are being told will likely have to be demolished.
"I'm it breaks my heart, truly. I'm very sad, but at the end of the day, I'm alive so are the other tenants, and you know, that's what we have to be so fortunate about," Copeland said.
For now, she's staying at her mom's house while she figures out her next steps. Among her possessions are treasured paintings by her grandmother which have been passed down in the family for generations.
She said she and the other four displaced tenants are in contact and taking it day-by-day helping each other through the difficult process of starting over.
"We will, you know, get together at some point. I think today everybody just needs a day to just, like, unwind for a second and just take a breath," Copeland said.
Copeland said the company Outfast Management who owns the building has not been easy to get a hold of. We reached out to see if they're doing anything to help tenants, but FOX 13 has been told they aren't giving any comments to media.