Woman describes nightmare experience waking up to Fox Run Apartments fire

A woman explains the terrifying moments when she woke up to her apartment building on fire on Christmas.

“I woke up around 2 a.m./2:30 a.m. It was the tenant who lives behind me. His girlfriend had smelled smoke and woken up. He was basically body checking doors. Yelling. Trying to get people up.”

Caitlin Brady and 31 others are temporarily without a home after an electrical issue seems to be the cause of the fire at Fox Run Apartments in Clifton Park.

Brady planned to spend Christmas morning with her 8-year-old son unwrapping gifts from Santa. Instead, she was grabbing her three dogs and the neighbor’s cat and ran out. Thankfully, Brady’s son was staying at the father’s house.

“While they [firefighters] were dealing with the fire and putting out the building, there was an interim of three to four hours where we really had nowhere to go,” Brady said.

She sat in her car with her dogs and the cat blasting the heat. Temperatures were below freezing that night.

“We weren’t getting any answers. I don’t think anyone had any answers at that point. They were just concerned about getting a fire extinguished and figuring out what happened.”

Brady and the other tenants who live in building 23 at Fox Run are staying at La Quinta Inn & Suites.

The Solomon Organization, the property owner of Fox Run, tells NewsChannel 13 it was an electrical fire that left minor damage to a basement utility room and smoke damage to 22 apartments.

The company said the building is sound. Electrical and plumbing crews are making repairs.

Brady said the hotel stay is only until Friday, Dec. 27. Checkout time is at 11 a.m.

The Solomon Organization said if repairs require more time than expected residents will be staying elsewhere. However, Brady said there’s been a lack of communication on that front.

“There’s been no confirmation of that, as far as I know.”

Brady said she was finally able to have Christmas with her son late at night. They opened presents that she managed to save from the fire.

“We had a very untraditional Christmas. He understood as much as an 8-year-old can understand. There were other kids in the building that it affected far worse.”

This is a developing story. Stay with NewsChannel 13 as we learn more details.