Firefighters spent Monday morning battling an apartment fire in the Poplar Place Apartments on Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro.
About 20 apartments were affected by the fire and many families will likely be displaced, officials said.
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Flames were shooting through the roof at one point and it collapsed as a result.
It is not yet clear what started the fire.
One person was hospitalized, and another was evaluated at the complex, according to officials. Other than that, firefighters managed to get everyone out safely and no one was seriously injured.
One woman who lives in the apartment says she was asleep at the time, and credits everyone's safety with a neighbor who went around banging on people's doors to alert them.
"I heard a big bang at my door, somebody knocking, and it sounded really urgent," she said. "Shout out to my neighbor Simone. She had gone around on my side of the building waking everyone up, because she had woken up and seen flames."
One small dog passed out due to smoke inhalation. Crews at the scene gave him oxygen, and he's doing much better. Officials said his owner is the person who was hospitalized.
Not all fire departments have oxygen masks for pets. Firefighters say that giving oxygen to pets is extremely effective.
