Her husband, Terry, wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her shoulders. They stood in the shade of a neighboring building at Holiday Town Apartments. Between them and what had been their home were two fire trucks and hundreds of yards of yellow hose.
The two were in a state of shock and disbelief. They were also angry.
Firefighters had been there hours earlier to put out an electrical fire. They left, thinking the blaze was out. But in the early afternoon, the fire rekindled. Flames burst through the roof of the building and spread to neighboring dwellings.
Lillie Maynor said she asked firefighters to stick around a little longer Wednesday morning.
“Before they left, I told them I still saw smoke,” she said. “They told me that it would do that for a while.”
Southern Pines Fire Chief Rick Baker said that he wasn’t aware that any of his firefighters had told Maynor that.
“The only thing still smoking was a mattress in the yard,” Baker said.
He said firefighters not only checked the residence visually, but they also used a thermal imaging camera that is capable of detecting fire within the walls.
Firefighters came to the low-income apartment complex about 9:30 Wednesday morning to put out a fire caused by a shorted-out extension cord in a bedroom in the Maynors’ apartment. By about 11 a.m., the firefighters left, convinced that they had put out the blaze.
Meanwhile, Maynor said, she continued to see and smell smoke. Around 1 p.m., she walked outside and saw smoke coming from the roof. She called the apartment manager’s office.
Maynor said that the manager told her that the Fire Department had said that that might happen. But when reached by phone, the manager said that’s not what was said. The manager, who did not want to be identified, said that the Fire Department never said anything like that.
“Smoke is smoke,” the manager said. “If there is smoke, then there’s a problem.”
The manager called the Fire Department immediately and had Maynor make sure everyone was out of the apartments in that row. Firefighters arrived quickly, the manager said, but by the time they did, flames were coming through the roof.
Unfortunately, firefighters could have missed a tiny ember the first time, Baker said.
“There would have to be an ember or something,” he said.
The fire burned through the roofs of three apartments and appeared to affect a fourth. The other two apartments on that row suffered smoke and fire damage, Baker said. One of the apartments was unoccupied. The fire forced five families from their homes.
The American Red Cross put them up at the Microtel Inn and gave them vouchers for clothing and food.
The Red Cross provided temporary housing for 15. In addition to the Maynors, victims included a mother and seven children.
Bertha Terry, who lived in the apartment next to the Maynors, said she was called at work about the fire. She heard that firefighters had put it out. But when she arrived, she was startled to see smoke coming from the apartments.
She used a neighbor’s phone to call the Fire Department. But by the time she returned to her apartment, flames were visible.
“This don’t make no sense,” she said, “if they put the fire out the first time, as they were supposed to.”
The Red Cross normally provides lodging for fire victims for three days, but Joan Poole, the executive director of the local chapter of the Red Cross, said she hopes to do more for these families. The Red Cross is working with Holiday Town Apartments to find a way to relocate them, but she said they need more donations to allow the families to continuing staying at the Microtel Inn.
People who wish to donate can do so at the local Red Cross office at 244 SW Broad St. They are encouraged to write “Holiday Town Fire Victims” on the memo line of checks.
