AUDREY BARNES
WTTG
Reprinted with Permission

ARLINGTON, Va. - Nine people have been forced out of their Arlington home by a huge Mother's Day fire.


Investigators think it may have started on the back porch of the upper floor of the Apartment House on North Ivy Street. It spread to within inches of the apartment Abby Blocker rents in the house.

"The landlord came running, saying the house was on fire,"Blocker says.

The Schutz family who live downstairs made it out safely, but the family cats couldn't be found.

Tenant Elizabeth Brandler says everything she owns was in her room and she's hoping something could be salvaged.

"All I have right now are the clothes on my back, the running clothes I was wearing,"Brandler says.

Brandler says she may wait until Monday before telling her mom about the blaze.

"That's not a nice Mother's Day surprise. I'll wait and break it to her," Brandler says.

Fire officials are still looking for the cause of the blaze.