UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Nine families were displaced after an arson at the Allegra Terrace apartment complex in University Place. Investigators are still looking for the person who set the fire.
It happened early Friday morning.
Body camera footage from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies breaking down doors as they try to find the source.
Video shared by a resident shows the flames burning through the windows of the building while firefighters go inside.
“She screamed out the door, woke me up, and I jumped up out of the bed,” Wilson Dixson, who lives at the complex, told KIRO 7.
Dixson said his wife saw the fire while she was leaving for work. By the time he looked outside, the flames were everywhere.
“It was an orange glow,” he said. “It was almost like you were looking into a furnace.”
Deputies said they found accelerants inside the apartment and believe the fire was set intentionally. According to neighbors, that was obvious from the smell.
“It actually smelled like chemicals,” Dixson said. “It’s hard to tell what evil will do. It has its own entity. It’s hard to tell. I’m not that type of person, never been that type of person. I can’t think that way.”
The Red Cross is helping the displaced families. Anyone with information on a person leaving the area Friday morning should reach out to investigators.
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