LAFAYETTE, La. (WNTZ) – Alexandria, Louisiana native and working musician Jamey Brown is among 14 residents displaced after a fast-moving apartment fire in Lafayette on January 2, destroying multiple units and leaving residents with little warning and few belongings.
According to Brown’s GoFundMe, the fire broke out around 7 p.m. in a downstairs laundry room. Brown, who lived alone in a second-floor unit, said a good Samaritan knocked frantically on apartment doors to alert residents as smoke and flames spread.
Brown escaped through a smoke-filled stairwell to the parking lot. By the time he reached the ground, the staircase was engulfed in flames. A neighbor across the hall was forced to jump from a balcony as her two children cried for her to come down.
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“We all just stood on the sidewalk and watched our homes burn in a matter of five minutes,” Brown said. “Had someone not knocked on our doors, we would have been stuck inside with no way out.”
Eight apartment units were damaged, displacing Brown and 13 others, including several families. In the aftermath, Brown said residents received little to no immediate financial relief…