STARKVILLE — The call came in to the Oktibbeha County E-911 center Monday just after 4:30 a.m.
A fire was tearing through the second floor of Building E in the Academy Crossing apartment complex, and nine people were trapped in one unit.
In the end, all nine perished and friends and neighbors were left standing outside in 30-degree temperatures, many still in tears several hours after the blaze was extinguished. Of the nine victims, six were children.
Frisco Lyon and his fiancée, Chassel Jenkins, live next door to Apartment 7, where the fire started, and were awoken by the smell of smoke billowing into their residence. The couple also heard the screams of the children trapped next door.
“Once I heard the little boy holler, I got up,” Lyon recalled Monday morning while standing in the parking lot outside his building. “Really, it”s crazy. I aint used to hearing no kids holler like that. I”m not going to be able to sleep tonight.”
Lyon and Jenkins started banging on their neighbors” door and windows, and Jenkins called 911. The couple even tried to enter the burning apartment to rescue its inhabitants, but the smoke was too much to handle, Lyon said.
“I tried to go in, but went like two feet and couldn”t go any further,” Lyon said.
“We couldn”t do nothing,” Jenkins said. “We couldn”t find no water hose; we couldn”t find a fire extinguisher that worked; we couldn”t find nothing.”
Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and encountered “heavy smoke and flames,” Starkville Fire Department Chief Rodger Mann said, but it was too late to save the people inside.
The victims were India Williams, 25, and her three children, Kamarion Williams, 2, Jacorian Vasser, 6, and Richard Vasser, 5; Castella “Maria” Bell, 18, and her three children, Ta”Nayia Bell, 4, Jayvion Bell, 3, and Sumaya Bell, 6 months; and Lakesha Gillespie, 20.
Williams lived at the apartment and just last week allowed Bell, who was her cousin, to move in with her children, Lyon said. Gillespie was a friend.
Lyon and Jenkins were still visibly shaken Monday as they spoke with fire officials and the Oktibbeha County chapter of the American Red Cross.
“I could hear them screaming,” Jenkins said, then broke down in tears and buried her face in a Red Cross blanket. April Jenkins, Chassel”s cousin, comforted her with hugs.
According to Chassel Jenkins, a fire extinguisher she and Lyon tried to use to extinguish the blaze didn”t work. She also doesn”t believe the smoke detector was working.
“If it weren”t for the fact that we smelled burning paper, we probably wouldn”t have woke up,” Jenkins said through moist eyes. “We would have ended up just like them.”
Mann said it is still unknown if a smoke detector in the apartment worked.
Lyon said Williams was complaining earlier this month that the electrical outlets and, subsequently, the appliances in her kitchen were “acting up.”
Several residents of the complex shared similar stories about their own apartments, though Mann was reluctant to call the blaze an electrical fire. The cause is still under investigation.
Lyon said he has complained about electrical problems to Academy Crossing management “plenty of times,” but “nothing ever gets done.”
Chassel Jenkins and Lyon even went to bed Sunday night with the oven on to warm up their apartment because the heat doesn”t work, Lyon said.
Academy Crossing owner Mildred Rollins did not return calls for comment.
Three apartments suffered fire damage and several others were damaged by water and smoke. The Red Cross is putting Lyon, Chassel and a family of four who lived in a bottom-floor apartment in a motel for the next two or three nights until they can make further arrangements, Oktibbeha Red Cross Director Becky Wilkes said. Only three of the eight apartments in the building were occupied.
The family of four should be able to move back into their apartment because it was not damaged heavily, Wilkes said, but Lyon and Chassel”s residence is in ruins.
The Red Cross will pay up to $500 toward each victim”s funeral costs, Wilkes said. The organization also will provide clothing, food and other necessities for the victims, Wilkes said. The Red Cross is accepting donations.
“Any help is appreciated,” Wilkes said.
April Jenkins described Williams, Bell and Gillespie as “very funny” and “very sweet.” The children were a joy, as well, she said.
“The kids were awesome,” April Jenkins said. “It”s just sad. Really sad.”
Sharon Dent, another friend of the family, shared similar sentiments. She occasionally babysat Williams” children.
“Those kids were so sweet,” Dent said. “I loved those kids. It”s extremely hard for me right now.”
Family friend Fannisha Jones also was at the scene and stared in disbelief at the building”s charred second floor.
“I was shocked,” Jones said as she recalled hearing news of the fire early this morning. “I didn”t know whether to cry or not believe it.”
Another friend, Tarkesha Carter, also was in shock.
“They were some really nice people,” Carter said.
Chief Mann summed up the mood among emergency officials, onlookers and friends.
“It”s a sad day in Starkville,” he said.
Dispatch reporter Allen Baswell contributed to this story.
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