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KANNAPOLIS — Firefighters say the Mother’s Day fire at a public housing complex came dangerously close to killing several people.
On Saturday, police charged Robert Earl Clark, 34, 230 Charlotte Road, Mooresville, with first-degree arson.
Police say Clark set fire to three different places in his girlfriend’s apartment, turned the stove on and left the scene.
Kannapolis firefighters responded to a neighbor’s call at 6 a.m. on May 14.
The Rowan County Housing Authority owns and operates the apartment building at 2200 Running Brook Drive, off East 22nd Street.
Clark ignited clothes in upstairs and downstairs closets and lighted the matress with a wad of paper towels.
“She tried to move what she could out, but everything cooked until it was brittle,” Detective Jack Blalock said. “The plastic on the TV completely melted.”
A next-door neighbor told the first two firefighters to arrive that five children were trapped inside. The men burst through a door, allowing a new source of oxygen to fuel the fire and ignite the entire room.
The new apartment was airtight because of new seals on doors and windows, holding the heat in.
Later, the firefighters learned that all the residents — the five children and two parents — were visiting relatives out of town.
The fire still could have killed as many as four people living in the same building had it spread to other units, Blalock said.
“The neighbor woke up coughing and gagging,” he said. “There was smoke coming through the vents and sockets.”
The fire caused $65,000 in damage to two units — mostly smoke damage to the second one.
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