Apartment Fire Displaces 16 Families

A Sunday afternoon fire at the Raymonia Apartment Complex has left 16 families displaced from their home.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigation a fire at Building 5 of the Raymonia Apartment Complex, located on Easter Drive, at around 12:30 p.m. on November 20. Vidalia Fire Department (VFD) Chief Brian Sikes says that the fire was very large and much bigger than the size of fires his department normally deals with. “We are not used to dealing with that volume of fire on a regular basis,” Sikes said. “We are very grateful for the help Toombs County Fire Department and Lyons Fire Department provided us, because it made the task much easier than it would have been with our department alone.”

According to VFD, all inhabitants were able to safely evacuate the building, even though one individual was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the incident.

The American Red Cross and United Way of Montgomery, Toombs, and Wheeler Counties worked to provide temporary housing for the families, 7 of which have children. The exact amount of time these families will be displaced is unknown, but Sikes reports there is a lot of fire, smoke, and water damage throughout the building.