Multiple 2-alarm fires have firefighters busy in the heat Extreme temps and high humidity caused health problems for some firemen fighting blazes across the Queen City Tuesday.
Dan Yesenosky, WCNC 8:33 PM. EDT July 05, 2016
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Multiple fires had crews in the Queen City busy Tuesday, causing extensive damage to a restaurant and apartment complex.
"Firefighters coming out, I'm like, 'what's going on?'" said Ashley Gash. "And here it is, it got caught on fire."
Gash says she lives right next door to the building at the Hunters Pointe apartment complex that caught on fire.
"Smoke got in my apartment!" Gash said. "I had to literally come outside."
Charlotte Fire says they got the call before 9 a.m. that the apartment building, which had about half a dozen units, was on fire. Five adults and three small children were displaced.
"I mean, not all the way to the ground, but it is burnt," Gash said.
Not long after, over at Firebirds in SouthPark, another 2-alarm fire broke out. An employee says he heard a loud "boom" before everyone ran out of the restaurant.
A common theme at each of these locations: firefighters chugging water and ditching their protective suits as soon as it was safe to do so. One firefighter at the apartment complex was transported to the hospital with heat-related problems, but just as a precaution.
"They know on a hot day we need to hydrate," said Jackie Gilmore with Charlotte Fire Department. "This starts early when they come to work. Drink plenty of water, because they know they're going to be out here in these conditions."
The Red Cross arrived to help the victims, but in heat like this, Gilmore says sometimes the firefighters need a hand, too.
"We have a good support system," Gilmore said. "MEDIC is here providing rehab for all the firefighters that need it."
The causes of each of these fires are still under investigation. Other than the firefighter who was transported, no one was injured.