Friday morning’s blaze at Boardwalk Apartments sent dozens of residents into the streets and drew hundreds of onlookers from nearby apartments and houses. Some of their accounts:

¢ Laya Roullin, a Kansas University student, was driven from her apartment by the fire and gave a tearful account.

“I was on a computer in my room, just typing, and I heard noises. I went to the door to see what it was and just saw flames. I grabbed what I could – my coat and my keys and my cell phone. I had to jump out the window and I’m cut pretty bad. There’s people who didn’t get out, I’m pretty sure. A guy threw his daughter out the window, and it’s just really sad.”

She added: “I’m blessed to be out.”

¢ Adam Washington, a Haskell sophomore, was playing video games with friends in a nearby apartment when they noticed a glow through the windows.

“We walked outside – you could just feel our energy, we were stunned. We ran down the stairs … and we just started yelling as loud as we could, to let everybody know. You’d see little kids and grownups come out; people from the other buildings came out, too, and started helping. Everyone put together a team effort.”

¢ Jerry Wheeler, who lives in an apartment across the street from the blaze, said his cat woke him shortly after 1 a.m.

Within minutes, the building was wrapped in flames and raining fire on the neighborhood – and Wheeler said he believed exploding propane tanks on barbecue grills at the building contributed to the spread of the flames.

“It was total pandemonium,” Wheeler said. “People running, screaming. It was like it was raining pinecones of fire.”

¢ Linda Berger, who lives nearby in the 500 block of Rock Fence Place, woke up to light from the fire pouring through her back bedroom window.

“I opened my eyes and saw it was light out,” she said. “But I thought it was an odd light.”

She looked out the window and saw the building in flames.

“I could hear people yelling they couldn’t get out. I could hear people in the parking lot yelling up to people.”

Berger said she called 911, because she hadn’t heard or seen sirens or trucks.

“I could hear people screaming: ‘Help me! I can’t get out! Somebody help me, oh God please help me!’ I don’t know if they got out, and it’s kind of freaking me out.”

¢ Donna Watson, the manager of Boardwalk Apartments, stood wrapped in a blanket as she watched her tenants’ homes crumble into ash.

“My maintenance guy called me in,” she said. “All I know is, there was a fire, and here I am.”

The complex, she said, doesn’t cater to any particular type of tenant.

“I have a real mix,” she said. “There’s young married couples, elderly people, singles, some college students.”