More than a dozen families displaced after Vidalia apartment complex fire

VIDALIA, Ga. (WTOC) - Fifteen families are displaced Sunday after an apartment complex fire in Vidalia.

Vidalia Fire officials say a fire broke out Sunday around 12:30 p.m. at the Raymonia Apartment Complex on Easter Drive.

One person was hospitalized as a result of the fire, but everyone did evacuate safely, according to Vidalia Fire officials.

Christopher Bryant lives with an uncle and got here while it burned.

“When I came over here, I saw everything lit up and my uncle said that the apartments here caught on fire,” Bryant said.

The fire spread to at least partly damage all 16 units, on both sides of a fire wall down the center. For some, it’s strictly water and smoke. But even that’s substantial.

Fire crews are thankful everyone got out safely.

“Knowing that everybody is home on the weekends, we enlisted the police. EMS was helping get people out of their homes,” Vidalia Fire Department Chief Brian Sikes said.

He’s thankful for the local agencies that helped families with hotel rooms or finding them a temporary place to stay. But at least some of the homes will need major repairs for families to return.

“A whole lot of people lost all their stuff and have to start all the way over.”

Chief Brian Sikes from Vidalia Fire Dept. says the state fire marshal visited the apartment building fire and said it started with an electrical short. He also said the fires later Sunday evening were from the same fire.