NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk man has to find a new place to stay tonight after his home caught fire early this morning.
Norfolk Fire Rescue officials say a fire marshal noticed smoke coming from an apartment on Omohundro Avenue and called it in.
Corey Baker has lived in this Omohundro Avenue home for more than a decade.
“Twelve or thirteen years," he said. "I lost a lot. The whole house is gone.”
He said he wasn’t at home when the fire started, he was at work at Saint Mark R.Z.U.A. Church in Norfolk.
He said a neighbor called him around 7 in the morning to tell him fire trucks were outside his home. By the time he got back home, several fire crews had already entered his unit to fight the flames.
“Some of my clothes and stuff I was able to get out but that’s about it. It’s done," Baker said.
Norfolk Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Glen Williams said one of their own called in the fire.
“One of our on-duty fire marshals was driving by that residence on the 3900 block of Omohundro Avenue and noticed smoke coming from the apartment," Williams said.
Crews responded and forced their way inside before calling for backup as the fire quickly spread from the first floor up to the attic.
“The fire was able to penetrate into the walls and go into the attic," he said. "They had to cut holes in the roof to make fire attack.”
Crews got the fire under control in about an hour. Williams said if the fire marshal didn’t notice the smoke, this could have been a lot worse.
“That doesn’t happen very often but luckily he had the keen eye to notice it was not normal smoke coming from the residence," Williams said.
No one is injured but Baker can’t stay in the apartment, any longer. He said he’s still trying to figure out his next step.
“When they told me it was inhabitable, that was... that was hard," Baker said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
An online fundraiser was started to help Baker.