More than 70 displaced after Manchester apartment fire

COFFEE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A large fire damaged at least 36 units and displaced more than 70 people at an apartment complex in Manchester Thursday night.

The fire happened at the Carden Estates Apartments on Summer Street.

Manchester fire officials told News 2 the fire is under control and no injuries have been reported. Multiple units from across the county responded to help fight the fire, including Tullahoma Fire Department.

Per fire officials, the blaze began at about 3:30 in the morning on the second floor of the apartment complex and quickly spread to the roof.

One family at the complex told News 2 that the fire started down the hall from their apartment. The father said he and his wife quickly grabbed their six-year-old daughter and four-month-old baby and got out safely.

“We didn’t quite know what it was,” said Andrew Cox. “We turned all our alarms off and noticed that alarms were still going on so we thought, we should probably get out of here.”

Another couple at the complex described the events that unfolded as they escaped the Friday morning blaze.

“Worst time ever it was like three something in the morning we just heard a fire alarm, we thought it was a fire drill and somebody pulled the fire alarm and we had to go,” said Matthew Eximond.

“We came out and the flames were all there and spread both ways,” added Brittney Love. “It went for over close to an hour.”

“It was slowly inching we were like no no, and just praying it wouldn’t continue to grow, but it just kept growing and growing. Fortunately, ours didn’t get burned down but it’s gone,” Eximond told News 2.

Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs posted at least 72 people have been displaced after the “catastrophic” blaze. Thirty-six units in the complex were destroyed.

Victims have been bussed to the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center, the Dusty Elam Foundation is delivering toiletries and Hardee’s is going to feed them breakfast, according to Hobbs.

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“I know that many of you will be eager to help in any way that you can because that’s what we do in Manchester! I will give further updates throughout the day as to the best way to proceed. I would like to close by thanking the Manchester Fire Department for their heroic efforts in sustaining the fire and their assistance with the families affected. There was no loss of life, and for that, we can be incredibly grateful.”

Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs

The American Red Cross has been called in to help the victims. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

No additional information was immediately released.

Since the morning’s blaze, multiple people and businesses in Manchester have offered assistance. Two different hotels, Comfort Suites and Sleep Inn and Suites have both offered “deeply discounted” rates for those displaced by the fire.

Additionally, First Baptist Church in Manchester said nonperishable food items and gift cards can be donated to the church and Canvas Community Church on McArthur Street to help those affect by the fire. For more information, Jake Dorak with First Baptist said money, gift cards, and nonperishable items are the things most in need to donating at this time. He shared a post on Facebook detailing how to help.

Mayor Hobbs thanked all those who have come together to help their neighbors for stepping up and doing all they can to help.

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“I just want to thank these folks for putting this together and working together so that we can help the people affected the most during this tragic event this morning,” he said in a video posted online .

Additionally, the Coffee County Central High School Student Section, commonly referred to as “The Zoo” locally, announced it will be accepting donations at Friday night’s game against Franklin County, set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Carden-Jarrell Field in Manchester.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Manchester fire officials.

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This is a developing story . WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.

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