Residents Displaced Due To Flooding At Spartanburg Apartment Building Return Home

Update: Wednesday, February 22

More than 20 people forced out by fire on Tuesday night are now able to sleep in their own beds again.

Maintenance crews spent much of Wednesday cleaning up water inside the Archibald Rutledge Apartments.

While no one was hurt in the incident, some residents are concerned about the next time the fire alarm goes off.

"I would just like to see it safe for everybody,” said resident Linda Bourdreaux.

“I think we need to have a fire escape,” adds resident Karen Sue Tipton.

Many of the tenants use walkers or wheelchairs to get around.

When the fire alarm goes off, so does the elevator and the only way to exit the building is down one of two interior stairwells.

According to Fire Marshal Brad Hall with the City of Spartanburg, outdoor fire escapes are no longer allowed.

"Current code wants you to have interior stairwells, such as ones in this building,” says Hall, “that is the safest way for residents to descend out of the building."

Hall says the sprinkler system installed throughout the apartments does give tenants and first responders additional time to get out since the water helps keep flames and smoke under control.

In the past six months, Spartanburg Fire Department has responded to Archibald Rutledge three times due to someone throwing cigarette butts in the trash.

Although it has never caused residents, like Rebecca Steadman to be put out, she admits it has made her become complacent.

“If it is a false alarm it will only goes for a few minutes,” says Steadman, “but this one kept on, so I said I better go.”

“We would knock on doors and residents would open them after the fire alarm was sounding for an hour or more,” said Hall

He warns that no matter when or where a fire alarm goes off, it always better to be safe than sorry.

Fire drills are required by law and the manager of Archibald Rutledge tells 7 On Your Side, practice drills are done on a routine basis.  Most recently, each floor was assigned a volunteer "fire captain" to help assist people to the stairwells.

Tuesday, February 21

A fire at a Spartanburg housing complex has left a large number of residents displaced.

The fire started at the Archibald Rutledge Apartments at 764 North Church St. around 6 p.m. Tuesday night. When they arrived, Spartanburg Fire Marshal Brad Hall said that firefighters found a small stove fire in an apartment on the 12th floor. Hall said that there was a small amount of smoke coming from the room and the sprinkler system in the complex was activated.

Hall said that the water from the sprinkler system went through the floors and leaked into apartments from the 12th floor to the 7th floor. Residents were evacuated as the water flooded 20-25 apartments.

Hall said that none of the residents were injured, but 20-25 residents were displaced due to the flooding. The Spartanburg Housing Authority was called and a cleanup crew was called to help with the flooding.

Due to safety reasons and potential electrical hazards, Hall said that residents in the flooded apartments were not being allowed back into their apartments and it could be Wednesday before they return.