Woman helps 30 residents get to safety from Hoover apartment fire

HOOVER, AL (WBRC) - A woman who's responsible for helping at least 30 residents get to safety from an apartment fire in Hoover speaks out.

Tamara Williams said Saturday morning when she opened her apartment door full of smoke, her smoke detectors still weren't going off.

Firefighters had not arrived yet so after getting out safely, she wanted to check on her neighbors next.

"Everybody's making so important out of it and I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do," said Williams.

She had a few moments to knock on almost every door to make sure everyone knew about the fire.

"To me, I wasn't afraid you know. The only person standing between life and death for some of these people was me in my mind, it was my responsibility to try and help them," said Williams.

The fire at The Park at Hoover affected multiple apartments and Williams insists smoke alarms were not heard which is why she acted.

"I feel like if we had not woken up, we could all be freaking dead," said Williams.

William Cooper who also was put out due to the fire said a few weeks ago the sprinkler broke and flooded the building.

"Today I took pictures of it even. None of these sprinklers came on during this fire so the very thing that was supposed to protect us was the very thing that wasn't even working today," said Cooper.

A few years ago, an apartment building burned down right next to Cooper's apartment complex that suddenly caught fire too this morning. He's concerned there's an eerie pattern here.

"There are several buildings out here. How many of these buildings don't have the proper protections against and fires you know even alarming up," said Cooper. "You never think that your apartment or your house is going to be the one that is gone."

The American Red Cross is providing some financial assistance to those residents who were put out today.

We stopped by the leasing office to ask about the alleged faulty smoke alarms and sprinklers, but they were closed as of Saturday at 5 p.m.

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