MORGANTOWN — Ebed and Akeya Simeon got married on May 28.
In June, Ebed watched his wife, a social worker by training, and nature, talk a desperate man off the railing of the South High Street Bridge.
On Sunday, they watched together as the building they call home, Bon Vista Apartments Building A, was ravaged by fire.
Akeya was actually off working on a community service project when she got the call. She saw video of the blaze on Facebook Live before she saw it in person.
“When I came in the firefighter stopped me. I said ‘I live in A-4. My husband, my child and my brother are up there. I’m not turning around.’ ” she recalled. “I literally got to the grass over here and my legs came out from under me when I finally saw it … Everything we’ve ever had and built was in that home.”
Fortunately, nobody was injured in the blaze, which destroyed six of the building’s 12 apartments.
Residents of the six lower-level apartments, including the Simeons, are awaiting clearance from the West Virginia Fire Marshal’s Office to see what’s left.
It took about three hours for manpower and resources marshaled from seven of the county’s 12 volunteer fire departments to knock down the flames.
Star City Fire Chief Justin Knotts said he estimates there were 40-50 volunteer firefighters on the scene.
It’s believed to be the largest volunteer response since 11 departments battled the blaze that leveled Mileground businesses Blue Parrot Cabaret and Model Cleaners in November 2018.
The age of the Bon Vista building meant it didn’t have prevention measures like fire suppression systems and firebreaks in the roof to prevent flames from traveling the length of the building — which is what occurred on Sunday.
Wind blowing up the hillside complicated matters; as did the heat, the proximity of other buildings to the fire and the tight nature of the complex — some 249 apartments between Bon Vista and Villas at Bon Vista share a single Stewartstown Road entrance and exit.
“Given everything, I’m extremely proud of the professional job everybody on scene did,” Knotts said. “They did an outstanding job when you consider what could have happened in a situation like that.”
The Simeons agree.
“Yesterday taught me something very important,” Ebed said Monday. “As different as we are, we’re more alike than anything else. To see the way that everybody banded together. To watch the firefighters out here. They fought that thing for two or three hours in the heat. Every time it looked like they were making headway, the wind would get to blowing and you could watch it swirl back up, but they never quit.”
Because damages are estimated to be more than $1 million, the fire marshal’s office was called in.
While talk at the scene Sunday indicated the fire started on an outdoor deck of one of the upper apartments, an official cause has not been identified.
Personnel with the West Virginia Fire Marshal’s office said Monday that it would likely be a couple months before a final report is filed.
In the meantime, a representative of fundraising website GoFundMe said four fundraising efforts have been started in response to the fire, including one on behalf of the Simeons by some of Akeya’s social work students at WVU.
But while they were doing that, Akeya was trying to help her neighbors.
“People were like ‘Your home is on fire and you’re out here resourcing people.’ Well, that’s what I do. I’m a social worker,” she said. “I have resources. I have a church family. I have an amazing sorority … My neighbors don’t have the resources that I have.”
