A fire broke out at Lennox Square apartments Sunday, and Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue responded soon after.
Holly Whigham, a spokesperson for the fire department, wrote via email on Sunday that the department had responded to the fire “shortly before 3 this afternoon.”
“There were 8 apartments burned, 4 people rescued, 1 person transported,” Whigham wrote.
Whigham added that 26 apartments were damaged by smoke and water, and she said that the source of the fire was determined to be a cooking fire.
Sheila Beard, a Lennox Square resident who lives on the top floor, said that she woke up to the smoke detector going off. She ran to the front of her apartment.
“I didn’t get to the door when our front room window blew out and all I seen was black smoke and fire,” Beard said.
Beard had to exit through the back window, injuring her ankle in the process. She then went to the emergency room for an assessment, where the chief of the fire department visited her.
Hours later, Beard said she still had pain from her ankle and scrapes.
Emilio Montano, a construction engineering major and Lennox Square resident, escaped using the fire escape ladder behind his top-floor apartment.
Montano said the fire destroyed around half of the things in his apartment.
“My car took some damage as well; some of it melted, windshield’s gone, blinkers, lights, all that,” Montano said, later looking at the fire-damaged complex and adding, “Best of luck to everybody caught inside of this mess.”
