A fire broke out at the nearby Seminole Ridge Apartments at 1301 Seminole Drive early Tuesday morning.
According to Rickie Bland, a Seminole Drive resident, there was no sign of the fire at 12:45 a.m. when he left to go to Wal-mart. When he returned between 1:20 and 1:30 a.m. he could see flames shooting over the tops of buildings, Bland said.
“I looked around and there was no sign of fire trucks or police cars. I was afraid that the red ash and sparks were going to carry through the air and set our building on fire. I started knocking on doors,” he said.
Within a matter of minutes he heard sirens, Bland said. Bland lives in an apartment complex across the street from the scene of the fire. When emergency vehicles arrived on the scene, Bland said, he grabbed his camera.
Johnson City officials could not be reached at the time of this interview. However, it is believed that two of the apartment buildings under constuction were damaged or destroyed along with a construction trailer that was on site.

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