LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Madeline Bridges was awoken early Monday morning in her Phoenix Hill apartment. Alarms were blaring all over the building on South Hancock Street, and someone was banging on her door.

"Honestly, I just keep telling myself it could have been so much worse," she said Thursday, coming back to look at what was left of the building. 

Bridges lived in an apartment on the fourth floor and knew she had to get out. But she didn't want to leave without her cat.

"I started knocking over stuff trying to find her," she said. "I opened wet food trying to find her, yelling her name. It was so loud. The smoke was everywhere. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't find her."

Bridges left her apartment and ran into the stairwell to leave. But she saw someone else with a cat carrier and turned around, still hoping to find her pet.

"I ran back for like five seconds," she said. "I still couldn't breathe and I'm like, 'I can't.' And I sprinted out, saw the fire and the smoke."

Madeline Bridges talks about escaping apartment fire

Madeline Bridges speaks with WDRB News on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 just days after escaping an apartment fire at 310 @ NuLu.

The 310 @ NuLu apartment complex, located at 310 S. Hancock St. in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood, burned after a fire broke out around 6 a.m. Monday. The building is a total loss, roofs caved in on several floors.

Bridges never found her cat.

"I was just glad no one was hurt, honestly," she said. "Because you look at it and you're like, 'How was no one hurt?' But, somehow no one was. So thank God for the firefighters."

Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill said Monday that a call came in around 2:30 a.m. with concerns of a smell at the complex. Firefighters and building workers went inside with thermal imaging equipment and found nothing hazardous. O'Neill said Louisville Fire stayed on scene about an hour before leaving.

Then, around 6 a.m. fire alarms starting sounding at the apartment complex, which is at the corner of East Jefferson and South Hancock streets. O'Neill said firefighters arrived within three minutes, but the fire was spreading quickly. 

O'Neill said it's unclear if the earlier odor reported had anything to do with the fire later that morning. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but O'Neill said with the extensive damage to the building, that will be difficult to determine. 

"There's probably not going to be much hope of really finding the exact cause," he said Tuesday, noting it was too unsafe for investigators to go inside the building, which had collapsed in places. "You can see daylight all the way down through second floor windows, meaning there is nothing from there all the way to the roof."

IMAGES | Phoenix Hill neighborhood apartment fire

Along with her cat, Bridges lost several sentimental items. She said she's making a list for her insurance company and doesn't believe there will be an opportunity to get anything from the building now that it's set to be demolished.

"I lost a piano that my grandma had for like 30 years," she said. "I lost a really nice piece of artwork (and) the dresser my grandparents got for their wedding anniversary."

Bridges still has her car, but those who parked in the garage on the first floor now can't get their vehicles along with anything left behind in the building.

"I was parked out in front so I could at least drive it out and it wasn't completely barricaded in," she said. "But it's terrible for the people for the people who had their car in the parking garage and paid extra for it. But it's a wash."

The apartment complex is made up of three separate buildings. Officials said 37 units were occupied in the building that caught fire. In total, more than 60 people are now displaced, including neighbors in a Liberty Green duplex next door. 

"Our concern then is the exterior walls if those might collapse we have evacuated the buildings that are right next door to make sure if there is a collapse on that we don't want anybody injured," O'Neill said Tuesday.

The massive amount of water being sprayed on the building caused debris and siding to fall off. O'Neill said there is concern of further collapse, and part of the reason this fire spread so quickly is due to the building's design. 

"If you think about a traditional floor with floor joists — say a 2-by-8, 2-by-10 floor joist — if fire gets in there, it can run that joist space, which is going to be about 14 inches, and it's going to have to burn through that 2-by-8 or 2-by-10 to get to the next space," he said. "With a truss floor like we saw over there and like we see in a lot of new construction, it's a series of triangles but it's wide open so as soon as a fire gets in there, it can spread the entire floor very, very quickly." 

Notice of intent to demolish 310 @ NuLu

Notice of intent to demolish posted on the door of the 310 @ NuLu apartment building after a fire on Feb. 19, 2024.

Notices are posted on the door for demolition, and fencing is up around the property, blocking part of South Hancock Street. Alarms can still be heard from the road, and work is going on inside the gate.

According to the city, there's not date yet for exactly when this building will be demolished, but it's not safe.

Allen Porter, a building inspection supervisor, said Tuesday he doesn't believe the building is feasible to be saved. 

"I'm just afraid that it's not safe to enter at all," Porter said.

Bridges moved from Mississippi to Louisville over the summer after matching with an internal medicine residency at the University of Louisville. She said she's now staying with a friend and her co-workers have been extremely supportive. She said if anyone wants to help those displaced by the fire, the Red Cross has been a big help. 

To donate the the Red Cross, click here.

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