UPDATE: Nearly 100 evacuated in Richmond retirement community fire

RICHMOND, Va. -- A three-alarm fire last night forced the evacuation of nearly 100 people from Chesterfield Square, a retirement community apartment complex in South Richmond.

Two people were treated at CJW Medical Center (Chippenham) for what authorities described as minor injuries. Neither was admitted.

The fire, reported at 8:55 p.m., was declared under control shortly before midnight, but not before it severely damaged two of the three wings of the brick-and-tan-siding complex at 1017 Hioaks Road.

This morning, fire investigators began entering the damaged areas of the complex, Richmond fire Lt. Shawn L. Jones said. No cause for the fire was immediately apparent, he said.

Numerous vehicles, ranging from a GRTC Transit System bus to a security van, were used to transport the 96 evacuees to CJW Medical Center.

At first, it was thought that CJW would give shelter through the night to the people being transported there. But later in the evening, the Greater Richmond Chapter of the American Red Cross set up a family reunification center at Bon Air United Methodist Church, 1645 Buford Road. Evacuees were transported there after midnight and Red Cross officials worked to set up a housing plan for each person.

Forty-eight residents stayed overnight in the gymnasium of Bon Air United Methodiust Church on Buford Road, less than two miles from the fire. Paul Hundley, manager of disaster services for the Greater Richmond Chapter of the American Red Cross, said he got a call at 945 p.m. and by 10:15, he and several church volunteers were at the gym, setting up cots and tables for the displaced residents.

Many of those displaced slept on cots through the night, while some sat at tables and chatted. This morning, they were treated to a breakfast of bagels, yogurt, oranges, coffee and bottled water -- and even sugar-free food for those with special dietary needs.

"I have to admit, this is the nicest group of sheltered people I have ever worked with," said Hundley, who has been on the job for 10 years.

Twelve Red Cross volunteers and four church volunteers worked throughout the night at the shelter and were helping the displaced residents this morning with transportation, medication needs and contacting relatives. Hundley said it remained to be seen how many would be unable to find other housing arrangements throughout the day today, but he said they would be guaranteed shelter.

"If the number dwindles down to a point where we can reasonably and economically house them in a hotel, then we'll do that," he said.

At the scene of the fire, many of the elderly were in wheelchairs, some on stretchers, and rescuers who helped them out of the building handed out blankets to them to keep them warm. Relatives arrived to seek out family members.

Flames could be seen through a huge amount of smoke surrounding the apartments.

One section of the three-story structure was burned through the roof, and most of the apartments there appeared to be severely damaged.

Jeremy Rines, who was visiting his grandparents on the third floor, said: "The room was starting to get a little warm and I looked out and saw smoke.

"I saw flames coming through the roof. Me and my grandparents started grabbing stuff that was sentimental to us. And then we just bailed out."

The fire created hundreds of remarkable incidents of human compassion and caring among total strangers. Passing motorists stopped to take the elderly into their vehicles.

"Can you believe it?" asked a police officer. "They're helping people out like real Americans and everything."

Richmond police Capt. David Martin said that at one point, some 20 officers were on scene, trying to help the residents get away from the complex while firefighters concentrated on the fire.

"It was good coordination by everybody," Martin said. "Folks were using wheelchairs, gurneys and everything else, trying to haul them across the fire hoses and everything to get them to a triage area."

Shonte Edwards, 22, who was visiting a friend, said she returned from a shopping trip to find dozens of elderly and disabled people trying to cross Hioaks Road to the hospital.

"Her legs were giving out from under her and she was frightened," Edwards said of an elderly woman, bent in pain, for whom Shonte found a wheelchair.

As the woman was seated, she complained there were other people in more need than her.

Another evacuee, Lucy Islip, 83, who lived on the second floor, said: "Everything in my apartment's gone. My great-grandson's picture is in there. He's only 23."

The body of her great-grandson, Sgt. Brandon Islip, was recovered Sunday from a river in Afghanistan, where he was on his second deployment.

Mrs. Islip was sitting, shivering in the cold with a blanket after two men helped her to sit down. "My legs are weak. I'm so cold," she said.

Elaine Krauss, who lives on the second floor of the building, said she heard the alarm going off, but because they have a lot of fire drills, she didn't think it was an actual fire.

Then she went into a hallway and saw that a fire door had closed.

She opened it and saw a cloud of smoke and two people running. "I guess they were confused and upset," she said.

She said that she alerted others and headed for an exit. She walked across the street to CJW Medical Center.

"A lot of the other people in the building are really ill and needing oxygen," she said. And because she did not at first think it was a real fire, she left her medication behind.

"I'm not going to get my diabetic shot tonight," she said as she stood with her daughter Jennifer Webb, who had come to check on her.

In January 2004, a two-alarm fire damaged a unit at Chesterfield Square, sending dozens of people, many of them elderly and clad in only pajamas, outside into frigid conditions. The fire was brought under control quickly. No injuries were reported.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.

Staff photographer Dean Hoffmeyer and staff writer Joe Macenka contributed to this report.