Authorities: Gasoline in fireplace caused Raleigh apartment fire

Eight units in the two-story Arium Trailwood apartment complex, at 3121 Aileen Drive, were damaged in the 6 p.m. fire, three of them severely. Sixteen people lost their homes in the blaze.

Authorities said the occupant of one of the apartments used gasoline to start a fire in his fireplace, which caused the fire to spread quickly.

The flames were visible from inside neighbor Laura Bushby's apartment. From outside, she could hear the residents' terror.

"I was just sitting on the couch, watching TV, and I heard people screaming in the parking lot," Bushby said, adding that she called 911.

"When I was on the phone, in that upper right window, I saw movement in there and it was clear that they were trapped in there," she said of two apartment residents. "They were tying sheets together, and they threw the sheets out the window."

Bushby said the couple ultimately jumped out the window, after dropping their dog to the ground.

"I heard it when the dog hit. It hit its shoulder and yelped, and it got off and took off running, and I went after it," she said.

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire. The dog suffered minor injuries as a result of the fall, but the animal is expected to be OK.

Tenant Megan Dupre wasn't home when the fire started, but her two cats were inside her apartment, which was not damaged.

"They wouldn't let us go in and get them, so I don't know if they are OK or not," she said hours before her cats, Chewy and Louis, were found safe.

No injuries were reported as a result of that fire, but three animals were rescued, and about 40 people were left homeless.

The cause of the Morrisville fire remains unknown.