Fayetteville police charge person with setting fire that left 15 homeless

Fayetteville police on Monday filed arson charges against a man they say set the fire that left 15 people displaced, five of them with minor injuries at the Summertime Apartments in the 6500 block of Jeffrey Drive.

The Fayetteville Fire Department was dispatched to fire, near the intersection of Reilly Road, around 5:18 a.m., according to Battalion Chief Dan Maffia.

Heavy fire was visible from the exterior of a two-story, eight-unit apartment building. Some individuals in the building had to be rescued.

Resident Adrienne Moore described a close-knit community of neighbors.

"I’m pretty sure everyone is in shock; I’m in shock," she said.

The structure was marked as a 'total loss' due to damage from the fire. Sky 5 flew over the apartment before 9:30 a.m. A front entranceway was badly charred, and the American Red Cross was at the scene to assist residents.

"I pray that nothing like this ever happens again in this neighborhood or anybody else’s neighborhood because they don't deserve that," Moore said.

Allen McFadden, 31, was charged with first-degree arson. Police did not say what evidence led them to connect him to the fire.

For Moore, however, the important thing is that the people who make this complex so special made it out alive.

"Things are replaceable but lives are not," she said.