Windsor Green didn’t warn residents of potential fire risk, lawsuit claims
The lack of smoke detectors and escape routes caused injuries to people living at Windsor Green when a large-scale fire ignited the complex, a new lawsuit claims.
The suit was filed nearly nine months after the blaze that drew widespread attention.
The blaze broke out at the Carolina Forest apartment building April 12, spreading across the second and third floors. Residents were forced to jump from balconies to escape the fire. Sixteen residents were displaced, and victims suffered broken bones, burns and cuts.
The Alewine family filed the lawsuit this week against Windsor Green Owners Association, Benchmark/Cams, LLC, Chicora Long Term Rentals, LLC, and several possible unnamed defendants.
The suit states the victims’ injuries and the damage done were a result of the owners’ negligence.
The lawsuit alleges the fire was caused by a light bulb that ignited a bird’s nest inside a light fixture outside of a second-floor unit. The bird’s nest caused the fire to spread across the second floor and up to the third floor, the lawsuit states.
There was no fire protection or detection devices in the building and no escape ladder or secondary means of escape, the suit alleges.
Multiple birds’ nests were present inside common-area light fixtures around the complex, the suit states. The Windsor Green owners, the lawsuit states, knew or should have known that nests were in the fixtures, knew or should have known the nests were a fire hazard and failed to remove the nests.
Windsor Green failed to tell residents of the potential fire risk or the lack of proper fire protection, the suit states.
Officials from Windsor Green could not be immediately reached.
This story was originally published January 4, 2019 at 2:44 PM.
