By PEGGY KING

peggy.king@gaflnews.com

CORDELE — Four local women are homeless after fire and smoke ravaged their apartments early Wednesday afternoon.

Sgt. Paul Arnett with the Cordele Fire Department said the blaze originated in Apartment B of the complex at 303 W. 14th Ave. shortly before 2:30 p.m.

Apartments A and B which were occupied by Gwendolyn Paul and Barbara McRae, he said, were totally destroyed by the fire which at times shot through the roof before fire fighters were able to completely contain the conflagration.

The two additional apartments in which Margaret Westbrook and Goldie Tomblin lived were so heavily damaged by smoke, Arnett said, that nothing can be saved.

A witness who lived next door to the building told onlookers that he heard a “big whoosh. It jumped to a curtain and then spread like wildfire when the wind caught it,” he said.

One of the victims, he said, is in a wheelchair, but she and others who were at home got out safely. Emergency medical technicians on the scene treated the wheelchair-bound victim for minor burns on her fingers.

Other nearby apartments also sustained some smoke damage. The witness quoted earlier said he was going someplace else for the night because of the smoke in his apartment.

Arnett said the blaze appeared to have started in the kitchen area of Apartment B, but the damage was so severe that the exact cause could not be determined. The complex was fully involved when firefighters arrived, and it took almost 30 minutes just to knock down the flames.