VIDEO: Arlene Pierce was cleaning her apartment Wednesday morning when she first smelled what she thought was a barbecue.
Initially, she thought little of it. Then, the scent grew stronger.
"It started smelling like burning and started getting really intense,” Pierce said. “I looked out the window, and I saw loads of smoke.”
Pierce, who lives in a bottom unit at the Crossing at Limestone apartments in Stanton, called 911, grabbed her keys and her kids and ran out.
By the time she did, the first firefighters were arriving at the complex to fight a blaze that Mill Creek Fire Company spokesman Jon Stewart said left one building "uninhabitable." Firefighters were called to the apartments, which are located directly next to the Kirkwood Highway Wawa, at 11:30 a.m., Stewart said.