A recent fire that stormed through an apartment complex has left many students concerned about their safety.
After watching an unfinished building at Seminole Ridge Apartments burn to the ground in 20 minutes on March 20, many residents are worried.
“I do not want to live here anymore,” said resident and ETSU student Emily Mungenast. “The building burned so quickly, it scared me, and the guard can never be found.”
“We were scared that the sparks were going to catch our complex on fire,” said student/resident Michael Sensabaugh. “We could feel the heat from the fire inside our apartment, which was making it unbearably hot. We would like to thank Spencer Lyon for pulling the fire alarm.”
Captain Mark Finucane of the Johnson City Fire Department was in charge the night the fire started.
The fire took four hours for Finucane and his crew to get under control.
The building was past the point of saving, so the fire department focused on saving the other buildings. The main concerns were the other two buildings under construction by the complex and other residences up the hill.
There has been no official word as to how or why it was started. There are several leads as to how it started, but it is still under investigation by the fire marshal.
Finucane said the reason the building burned so quickly was because the building was wide open to air, and the oxygen fed the fire, causing it to move more rapidly.

Author