Displaced Baltimore County families figuring out what's next after two-alarm apartment fire

Baltimore County families are figuring out their next moves following an apartment fire on Tuesday that left 27 residents displaced.

Firefighters were called to the Diamond Ridge apartments, in the 7400 block of Brixworth Court in Windsor Mill, where a fire had broken out through the roof.

"The sad thing is, we just moved here, not even six months in, so much has happened," resident Jasmine Adams said.

Adams told WJZ she had to get her disabled mother to safety while the fire continued to blaze around them.

"Me and her had to grab my mother up and get her into the wheelchair and wheel her out the front door, and it was just very traumatic," Adams said.

Help from the Red Cross

Adams said she lost in the fire her brand-new furniture, technology, and artwork. Her mother left without crucial medical supplies.

"I ran out into the hallway to grab the extinguisher, and she opened the door on the patio, and I started to put the flames out on the patio, but it got so bad, the smoke started to get thicker, she started choking, I started coughing," Adams said.

But the Red Cross of Central Maryland is helping the families get back on their feet by replenishing their immediate needs.

In the days and weeks to come, the Red Cross will continue to work with Baltimore County Health and Human Services to provide additional resources to the displaced residents.

Fire cleanup

On Wednesday, construction workers and cleanup crews removed charred pieces of what's left of a unit at the apartment complex where the roof collapsed nearly 24 hours earlier.

Diamond Deleon, a resident, said she was doing her hair when she smelled smoke. She said she looked out her window before she informed her sister.

"I ran and looked through her room and I did see it, and I was like, 'Oh, my God,' and it was big pieces," Deleon said.

Recent Baltimore fire

On Friday, March 7, a massive four-alarm fire engulfed a block of rowhomes, businesses and apartments in West Baltimore. Some of those homes were vacant, according to fire officials.

At least nine residents were displaced after the fire on North Fulton Avenue.

The Baltimore City Fire Department believes the fire started inside a vacant home due to possible illegal occupant activity and spread on a windy early morning.