4-year-old dies in South Carolina apartment fire days before Christmas, officials say
A 4-year-old is dead and several families are without a homeafter a fire tore through a South Carolina apartment complex days before Christmas.
An eight-unit building at Landau Apartments was “heavily involved” in the blaze when crews arrived around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to the Clinton Fire Department.
Fire Chief Phillip Russell said crews were told someone might be trapped in one of the units before arriving to the fiery scene.
“Clinton fire crews made multiple attempts to gain access to the second floor ... where the reported person was entrapped,” officials said. “However, fire conditions were so bad, crews had to transition into exterior defense attack.”
Once conditions improved, crews were able to go in and recover the victim, according to a news release. Officials said the deceased child was staying at the apartment complex when the fire broke out.
De’Travious Davis, who was inside the building that caught fire, told WSPA the victim was his younger cousin.
“I kind of feel like I let myself down by not going and getting my cousin even though the smoke is what stopped me from going back into the room,” Davis said, according to the station. “I really wanted to have both of them in my arms when I jumped out the window, but I couldn’t. So I just had to do what I had to do with my other cousin.”
Officials said 15 people were also displaced by the fire. The American Red Cross and the apartment complex are helping families find a place to stay.
Cheryl Parker, who is a manager at a nearby Waffle House, has organized a donation drop-off for clothing, toys and other items at the restaurant, WYFF reported.
“My heart was breaking,” Parker said, according to the news station. “There’s not a lot you can do for people in the reality of everything. You just do the best you can to get what you can do to help people and what better way to, as a community, come together?”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, fire officials said.