West Ashley apartments burn

2 firefighters suffer injuries while battling afternoon blaze; 6 families displaced

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City of Charleston and St. Andrews Fire Departments responded to an apartment fire on Ashley Hall Road Thursday afternoon. Watch »

Two Charleston firefighters were injured Thursday afternoon as a fire swept through a West Ashley apartment building and displaced six families.

One of the men was Capt. Art Wittner, the lone survivor of the Engine 16 crew, which responded to the Sofa Super Store fire that killed nine firefighters last summer.

A file cabinet fell on Wittner's head as he worked the 4 p.m. fire at the Ashley Grove Apartments on Ashley Hall Road, Acting Fire Chief Ronnie Classen said.

Wittner went outside, sat on the ground and held one hand to the right side of his head. Medical workers carried him away on a gurney. A CT scan and other tests at Roper Hospital showed nothing serious, Classen said. "He's doing fine," Classen said. "He's just got a big headache." Doctors kept Wittner several more hours for observation and released him.

The Post and Courier

The other firefighter, whom Classen did not identify, fell against a wall and injured his shoulder. He was treated at Roper, Classen said.

Dazed residents stood in the blistering heat and watched for nearly an hour as firefighters battled the blaze. Firefighters fought the fire in Building D from inside until it broke through the roof. Then firefighters attacked from the outside for their safety, Classen said. The fire consumed four apartments, he said.

Residents said the fire began in a vacant unit on the second floor. John Moore, who lived just below, said men were working on renovations earlier in the day.

Moore was sleeping when workers began knocking on doors to warn tenants. Black smoke could be seen from as far away as the Ravenel Bridge.

Moore said he didn't think to take anything. "I was more concerned with my life," he said.

One of the maintenance men wheeled a disabled man out of his apartment.

"They knocked on the door and said, 'You've got to get out of here,' " said 58-year-old Robert Anderson.

Rashona Colbert, 21, of West Ashley, a Charleston Southern University student, said she was watching a movie with her niece and a friend when she heard a loud popping noise followed by yells from outside. "And then everybody started screaming, 'There's a fire,' " she said.

Moore, Anderson and Colbert's possessions were destroyed. None of them had renter's insurance, they said.

Colbert said she was the first and only female member of the Flowery Branch (Ga.) High wrestling team. A videotape was her only proof, she said. "It's my past, my history."

Earlier Thursday, a fire on Constitution Avenue in North Charleston displaced nine.