Late Thursday night, the Starkville Fire Department and the Starkville Police Department responded to a fire at Avalon Apartments located off of Highway 25. No casualties were reported.
First responders were met with flames erupting from Building O. Building O is located near the main entrance, which limited the collateral damage to the complex.
As of 11 a.m. on Friday, Starkville Fire Department Chief Charles Yarbrough said the SFD does not know the cause of the fire, but has eliminated some possibilities. He said there were three injuries: one person with minor burns, while two others incurred leg injuries after jumping from the second story of the building.
The first fire truck to arrive on the scene was from Fire Station Two, and arrived at 12:04 a.m. after being dispatched by 911 at 11:58 p.m. Yarbrough said around 18 to 20 people have been displaced by the fire, and 12 apartment rooms were destroyed.
Yarbrough said the lack of a sprinkler system and the building’s predominantly wooden construction caused the fire to quickly move through the building.
“It started up top, on the second or third floor, we are trying to figure that out,” Yarbrough said. “Once it got started and the wind got blowing and it started burning, it did not take any time for it to spread. Really quick moving fire.”
He said it took them about an hour to get the fire under control, and another three hours to have it “really knocked down.”
Yarbrough said the SPD, fellow residents and a volunteer firefighter played a big role ensuring people’s safety.
“They saved people’s lives by beating on their doors and getting them out,” Yarbrough said. “Without the help of those people, I think we would have had a large loss of life.”
Hannah Childers, a Mississippi State University senior secondary education major from Hernando, expressed her disbelief about the fire.
“I know what it’s like to lose my home, but not what it’s like to lose everything,” Childers said.
Bridgitt Hutchison and Taylor Reeves, both MSU senior secondary education majors, lived in building O on the third floor.
The two MSU students were both in their beds, when Hutchison woke up at 11:58 p.m. and heard people yelling “get out, get out.”
“I smelt smoke coming through, and I was like ‘wait this isn’t right,’” Hutchison said.
Hutchison said she woke up Reeves, grabbed her keys, phone and wallet before running out of the building. Within six minutes, she said there was a cloud of smoke and flames were shooting out of the building.
“It was 12:04…and our whole entire apartment was already engulfed in flames,” Hutchison said.
Hutchison and Reeves said they watched someone jump from the second floor balcony onto grass to escape the fire. They said firefighters responded to the fire immediately, helping people escape the burning building.
“We’re alive,” Hutchison said. “Material things don’t last.”
The MSU Student Association was quick to respond to the incident. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the MSU SA set up a program named the “MSU Student Relief Fund” designed to aid students affected by a crisis.
Tyler McMurray, SA president, expressed the importance of unity during a crisis for MSU students and faculty in her press release.
“At Mississippi State University, we pride ourselves on being family, and as a family it is time to come together and support the members of our student body and Starkville Community,” McMurray wrote. “In addition, the Student Association would like to thank the Oktibbeha County Fire Department and other responders for their help.”
