Nine escape injury as fire destroys apartment

HAVELOCK — Nine residents of three Havelock apartments escaped unhurt as a fire swept through their building Monday morning.

Witnesses said the fire started in a living room couch in a downstairs apartment at building F at Eastwood Square Apartments at 201 Shipman Road.

The two-story building has four units and all were destroyed in the fire that started around 10:15 a.m., leaving three families suddenly homeless.

The fire started in the apartment where Joshua Reynolds lives with his wife, April Woods, and their three small children, ages 5, 4 and 2.

Reynolds, who was at work as a radar operator for Marine Wing Support Squadron 274 at Cherry Point, said his oldest child was at school and his wife was at home with the two smaller children when the fire broke out.

“She was in there and she saw the couch smoking,” Reynolds said. “She went to pour some water on it, and it started flaming. So, she grabbed the kids and got the neighbor to call 911.”

Reynolds said the family lost everything in the fire.

“My kids had their Christmas presents in there and their clothes and everything,” he said before turning again to console his wife as they stood at an adjacent apartment building.

The fire was still burning when a representative from a local Havelock church left the young family a number they could call for support. The Red Cross has also been called to help the residents.

Andrew Helbert, his wife and their young toddler stood looking at what remained of their downstairs apartment in the burning building. Helbert was at work, also at the MWSS-274 at the time the fire started. His wife and child got out without injury.

Jeremy Lodholtz, also with the MWSS-274, was in his upstairs apartment with three other Marines when the fire started.

“It was white smoke at first and it turned black, and I said ‘we got to go,’” he said. “My buddy discovered it. He said he smelled something burning. When we opened the door all the smoke just came in.”

Helbert said that the fourth apartment was rented to a man who comes around about once a month and who was not at home when the fire broke out.

Havelock Fire and EMS, Cherry Point Fire and Rescue and Township 6 were among the departments that responded to the fire, which was extinguished at 11:30 a.m. Cherry Point brought a ladder truck that firefighters used to access the roof of the two story building.