16 apartments damaged by fire at Buechel apartment building, displacing more than 20 residents

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A large fire seriously damaged 16 apartments at the Bardstown Forest apartment complex in Buechel on Wednesday night.

Naisia Hall lives in the building on Ivy Wood Place and could smell the fire. She opened her door and was shocked at what she saw.

"The smoke was coming full throttle into my apartment," Hall said.

She went outside to find the building ablaze.

"This whole apartment was just burning down," she said. "It was crazy last night ... I ran back in [and] I grabbed all my important documents that I could."

Other residents tried to wake people in the building as the fire spread.

"It was late at night, and we didn't know how many people were still in the apartments," Kenyetta Moore-love said. "We just start throwing stuff at the doors and the windows to get their attention in case they were asleep."

Moore-love said she witnessed her neighbors jumping out of the second floor windows to get to safety. Amazingly, no one was hurt.

"It was real scary," Moore-love said. "I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life. The fire spread just like that in seconds."

Fire officials said it was an accident. They believe something was likely left burning inside a unit like a candle or incense. All in all, 16 apartments are now unlivable, and more than 20 people are displaced from their homes.

Those allowed to return are counting their blessings, knowing it could have been much worse.