‘It was just black smoke rolling’: Witnesses recount massive south Charlotte fire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A massive fire broke out in south Charlotte Thursday morning, shooting flames and smoke toward the sky.

That fire was at a construction site on Liberty Row Drive. Truck driver Glen Freeman was delivering windows to the building that became engulfed in flames.

Freeman said he went inside to use the bathroom and when he came back out, people were yelling that the building was on fire.

“Smoke was rolling right out of the place where they were going to unload my windows at,” he said. “It was just black smoke rolling.”

Freeman’s truck was stuck in the construction site as crews worked to contain the flames. He didn’t know when he’d be able to drive it away.

“I’m going to stay here until they tell me what to do, because there ain’t but one way out, and that’s back toward the burn,” he said.

One man who said he had to be evacuated from the 11th floor of a nearby building described the scene as Dante’s seventh level of hell.

“Once I got on the ground, definitely the plywood and stuff raining debris. It certainly lets you know how quick it can change,” he said.

Destiny Hawkins said she was on the ninth floor in the Montfort business complex on Mockingbird Lane.

“We can see large dark clouds of smoke and every few minutes you see large flames come over the tops of the buildings in front of it. Medics and fire assistance are passing through about every 10 minutes,” she said.

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