No injuries were reported after a major fire broke out at an apartment complex on Park Laureate Drive near Taylorsville Road.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A large fire tore through a Jeffersontown apartment complex Wednesday afternoon, damaging multiple units and causing part of the roof to collapse.
Jeffersontown Fire and EMS Captain Amber Cobb said crews responded around 2:30 p.m. to the 8600 block of Park Laureate Drive.
When firefighters arrived, they saw heavy flames and smoke pouring from the building’s roof. Cobb noted that crews had to dig out a fire hydrant buried in a snowbank before beginning suppression efforts.
Lauren Kendall, who lives next door to the building that caught fire, said she was home when it started.
“We heard a car alarm going off, and then somebody honking over and over again, and we just saw somebody like, wrecked in front of the apartment building. And we came out, and everyone’s just running, and we hear someone yell, ‘fire!'” Kendall said. “I look over, and it’s like just flames bursting through the bottom apartment, and just we’ve been the whole time we were standing out here, the fire is just growing to the top of the building by the time the firefighters got here.”
Cobb said all residents safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
“It was horrifying, honestly, just seeing our apartment, our neighbor’s apartment getting burned down and smoke coming out of it,” said Michelle Gaye, who lives at the complex. “I was just really concerned that everyone got out okay, as far as I know, pretty sure they did.”
Firefighters conducted systematic searches, moving floor by floor and apartment by apartment to check for anyone still inside. Cobb said crews also rescued multiple pets from the building.
“[Our response] has to be efficient and systematic,” Cobb said. “That has to happen pretty quickly, especially with how quickly this apartment went up in flames.”
At least 12 apartments sustained varying levels of fire and smoke damage. The American Red Cross responded to assist displaced residents.
Investigators are still working to determine what caused the fire.
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