Well, thanks for staying up with
us here tonight at 11:00 o'cloc.
I'm Colin Mayfield. And
I'm Vanessa Rufus. We start
tonight with a community grievi.
Two people are confirmed dead in that
massive fire that destroyed a South Park
construction site yesterday mor.
That's right, officials.
They say it's one of the worst s
that Charlotte has seen in decades and
they say the unstable structures
slowing them and getting a closer look
at the suspected source of this blaze.
Now officials said that two wors
were missing after the construcn
site first evacuated tonight.
They confirmed they recovered 2 bodies
from the burned apartment build.
One has been identified as
30 year old Demonte Cheryl.
Our officials did not name the other person.
We're told Cheryl was a family ,
a father of four.
And a hard worker,
fire officials tonight saying they tried
their best to save everyone they could.
Everyone did the best they coul.
I think they did well
beyond the best they could.
I think they did a fantastic jon
light of the situation that they faced
and we're going to dive into tht
situation they faced in just a .
But we can tell you as we speak,
the investigation goes on into
how this exactly happened.
Right now, officials say
this was all an accident,
but of course they are still cog
through all of the evidence her.
We're joined now by WCNC
Charlotte's Julia Kaufman,
who brings us the latest on
what we know so far. Julia.
Hey Vanessa. Colin,
We're out right in front of thee
where the fire happened yesterd.
It's pretty dark out here,
so you might not be able to see,
but or what's left of it anyway.
But it's really a devastating sight and
devastating reminder of what happened.
And of course, the two lives lo.
The Fire Chief says firefighterd
everything they could to try to get to
the two men that were trapped inside,
but they couldn't,
and they actually ended up
needing to be saved themselves.
They had gone up and done a sea,
and we're searching in an
area obviously with limited
visibility and getting in there
and trying to locate them.
They didn't visually see them.
Obviously they were going by
sound and trying to get to them,
but we're unable to get there
before conditions changed.
Chief Reginald
Johnson detailing what led
to firefighters having to be
escorted out of the burning
building before it collapsed.
Sadly, family, friends and the
Charlotte community are now
mourning the two lives lost.
Our hearts ache for those we have lost,
for the dreams and aspirations t
have been extinguished too soon.
All that's left of the site is mostly
charred wood and collapsed wall.
City leaders shared updates on
the fire investigation in their
condolences Friday afternoon,
Mayor VI Lyles specifically named one of
the victims 30 year old Demonte Shirell.
His family said he was a hard worker.
A loving father and a family ma.
I want your family to know Mr.
Shirell's family,
to know that we grieve with you,
especially for Mr.
Shirell's children.
Officials have not confirmed the
name of the second person who d.
Meanwhile, a construction superr
says one of his workers remains missing.
He's 60 year old.
Reuben Holmes, the supervisor,
shared this photo of Holmes and
his sister in hopes of getting
in contact with his family.
While firefighters say they
weren't able to save the two who
were trapped on the 6th floor,
they rescued 15 workers as flams
ripped through the structure.
The investigation is still unde,
but Johnson says evidence shows
the fire sparked from a spray
insulation foam trailer that
was inside on the ground floor.
I've been with the Charlotte Mecklenburg
Police Department for 31 years.
I've never ever seen a fire
of this magnitude that.
So city leaders also commended firefighters
for containing the fire to this one building,
preventing it from spreading to the identical
apartment wooden structure right next door.
And they're actually still here
tonight to maintain safety.
Earlier when we were here today,
we also saw members of
Mill Creek Residential,
the company that owns the build,
assessing the damage.
For now, we're live in South Pa.
Julia Kaufman at WCNC Charlotte.
Julia,
thank you for detailing all that we've
learned up until this point and we heard
Julia talking about the develop.
We can tell you WCNC Charlotte s
received a statement from Mill k
that developer of that South Pak
project tonight, it reads in pa.
Our number one priority is the
health and safety of the people
who were working there today and
those in the surrounding area.
Our thoughts are with those who were impacted
and their friends and family members.
We are gathering as much informn
as possible on what occurred and
will take the appropriate measus
to address today's incident.
Of course, stick with us
here at WCNC for continuing
coverage of this deadly fire.
We're bringing you all the
angles of the story here on air,
but also on our digital platfor.
Don't forget wcnc.com,
the WCNC mobile app and WCNC.
Plus of course we also have a
WCNC Charlotte YouTube page.