One woman dies, many lose everything in fast-burning blaze at Highland Hills
Photo By Maciek Krzysztoforski
Carrboro fireman Daneil Speight, part of the crew of firefighters sifting through the remains of Highland Hills Building G, hands Stephene Gagnon what’s left of one of her books.
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Authorities have still not identified the victim in last weekend’s fire at the Highland Hills apartment complex, a blaze that took the life of one woman, injured two others and left more than 20 people homeless.
Carrboro firefighters were on the scene again Wednesday picking their way through debris in search of photo albums and other belongings that might be salvageable.
“We’re just looking for a few things that the residents have told us about,†said Carrboro Fire Marshal Stan Foushee.
The origins of the fire are still an unknown, he said, because of the intense damage to Building G. Foushee said the investigation so far hasn’t ruled anything out as a cause. What is known is that the fire started on the east end of the building, near where the victim died, and raced westward.
Many residents were asleep at the time and were caught by surprise.
Sunday’s fire forced two residents of the apartment building to jump from a second-story balcony to flee the flames. As of Wednesday afternoon, university student Kristin Pietrowicz is in good condition at UNC Hospitals. A secretary at Chapel Hill High School said math teacher Susan Thorne is “doing all right.†A call to Chapel Hill High principal Jacqueline Ellis was not returned as of Wednesday evening.
Demetria Brook and her boyfriend, Ian Wallace, and their two boys were asleep in their second-floor apartment when the fire broke out. Brook said they woke up with barely enough time to escape.
“The first section had already burned down and the flames were right there at the dining room window,†she said. The four scrambled to safety and looked on as the building and all their belongings were consumed in flames.
Like others who lived in the building, the days since the fire have been filled with trying to cope with the loss and trying to get paperwork together. The couple’s cars are among the line of vehicles nearby with melted headlamps, blistered paint and fogged, bubbled windshields. Near the cars are a live trap and cat food cans set up in hopes that cats lost the night of the fire might return.
“I’m okay,†Brook said quietly. The boys, 7 and 8, have been okay too, she said, as long as they have something to do. “A lot of my friends have been talking with them and giving them things. One’s back in school; the other’s not ready yet.â€
Wednesday was the first time she’d been back, and she took in the scene from behind a chain-link fence erected around the site.
The apartments she called home have been reduced to a heap of charred beams, trim and wooden framing mixed with the debris of lives changed in an instant. Scattered around are soot-covered reminders of those lives — a laundry basket, a CD-R labeled “XMS 2005,†bedsprings, a torn coverlet, bits of railing, a dog bed and a pair of slippers. And underneath, much more, occasionally unearthed by the fire crews and piled on the now-cracked sidewalk under the scorched birch trees that once lined the way to Building G.
Gagnon, who was among about 20 people who lost everything when fire swept through the complex, checks out what’s left of her charred laptop.