SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — A Christmas Day fire injured a mother of three and dampened the holiday spirit for several families in Southfield.
The early Wednesday morning fire happened at the Radius apartment and townhomes near 10 Mile Road and Telegraph Road.
It left five units unlivable and destroyed many of those families' belongings, according to the fire chief. Now, they're spending the holiday figuring out their next move.
“It’s nerve-racking. It’s scary,” Paige Robinson, a displaced resident, said.
Instead of sounds of joy on Christmas morning, Robinson said she woke up to the sound of her mother screaming about a fire.
“We tried to bang on everyone else's (door) in the small complex, in our duplex you can call it, to make sure everybody gets out," she recalled.
Jasmine Boney said, “I never would have thought that we would be impacted by a Christmas fire at all, let alone a fire for Christmas morning.”
She said her sister, Tiffany Mcrae-Alston, was injured after an LED lamp next to her bed exploded. However, it's unclear what happened before that. Boney said neighbors reported hearing a loud boom in what they described as a chain reaction of blasts.
"She said that her furnace had blew, and my mom said that she had smoke coming off of her skin," Robinson said.
Boney said, "She has second-degree burns on her chest and on her leg. Yeah, so she's OK right now."
That's the good news and the fact she said her sister was the only person in her family home at the time. However, like Robinson's family, the Alstons lost their belongings.
“You know, when you work hard to buy gifts for your kids and you really wanna see that joy, you just get woken up with terror," Boney said.
Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee confirmed everyone got out, but it's unclear at this point how the fire started and where it originated.
“We’re working with the management company now as far as investigation, cause and determination of the fire as well as what we’re gonna to do help the residents, especially on a day like Christmas,” he explained.
The chief said firefighters managed to salvage some Christmas gifts in various units.
He said there are two victims, including Mcrae-Alston, who was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The other victim was treated and released at the scene.
A Gofundme has been started for Alston that can be found here.
Boney said, "But even though it’s unfortunate, we are honestly very, very grateful. Like, the whole time on our way here, I was like just thank God, thank God, thank God. There are no casualties.”
Robinson said, “I don’t know where we go next or what we do, but we’ll fight to get through it.”
