A neighbor ran from apartment to apartment, banging on doors to wake people up as their complex burned down early Monday morning in Centreville, Va.
Bimla Kapoor, 75, said she was only alive after loud knocks at her door and had to be rescued. People dragged her out of the apartment by her feet.
"She is very upset, everything is gone," Mina Kapoor said. "She doesn't even have clothes to change into."
People who live in the Bent Tree Apartments in Centreville have all been placed into new ones after the fire. It completely destroyed 13 units and put 30 people out of their homes.
One man died in the fire.
The building they lived in was built in the 1980s. According to Fairfax County code, fire alarms and sprinklers were not required at the time.
The management company, AIMCO, told WUSA9 they were never put in in this specific apartment complex because of it. So by law, they said, AIMCO isn't breaking any rules.
The management company also owns several, newer four-story apartment buildings nearby and said all of those have updated fire systems.
When WUSA9 asked AIMCO if there was any plan to eventually add in sprinklers and a fire alarm to the Bent Tree Apartments, they said no.
Fire officials haven't said what caused the fire yet.
"We just thank 100 times over that our family is safe," said Kapoor.
Here is the statement AIMCO sent WUSA9 from their Denver headquarters:
Thank you for your patience as we work diligently to secure the property and determine next steps. We are deeply saddened to share that emergency responders have confirmed one casualty from the fire that occurred at our community this morning. This is an ongoing investigation and we continue to work closely with fire and police officials.
The safety and security of our residents and team members is our top priority. To that end we have secured new homes for affected residents. Most of them are transferring to available apartments within the community. One is relocating to one of our communities nearby. We thank the Red Cross for their work this morning in working with residents on temporary accommodations.
We acquired this community in February 2018. The fire protection systems throughout the community are code compliant and operated as designed to alert residents. All apartment homes have smoke detectors in-units. The first fire alarm station pull occurred at 12:51a and dispatch confirmed the fire at 12:55a. We are grateful for all the residents and our community team who knocked on doors and helped to bring their neighbors to safety.
The buildings impacted must remain closed while we assess the damage and continue investigations. Residents will be allowed to re-enter their homes once the investigation is complete and the building is determined to be structurally sound and secure. We will notify residents when the buildings are safe to enter.