Turner Colbert was about to leave his apartment at The Social Seminole on Ocala Road to visit a friend when he smelled smoke, went outside and found his building ablaze.
He ran back inside the second-floor apartment and banged on his three roommates’ doors to get them out before he made his way to the safety of the parking lot.
Others who resided in Building F began streaming outside — including people who were actually on fire, he said. Two people were rescued by firefighters while others leaped from the three-story building to escape the inferno.
“It was terrifying,” said Colbert, a junior at Tallahassee State College. “You’re looking at a fire right above you and seeing people run out of the building. It’s a very scary thing.”
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Colbert said the fire broke out shortly before 10:30 p.m. Nov. 19 on the third floor of his building and quickly spread.
“When I first saw it, it was one apartment,” he said. “And then it became the whole building. I watched the whole thing happen. It was crazy.”
Video shows man on fire running out of apartment; eight people injured, including a firefighter
Students who lived in the Social Seminole student apartments captured dramatic photos and video of the blaze.
Colbert and others who escaped shot dramatic video of the blaze, including one showing a man frantically putting out flames on his body as he ran from the building.
Eight people, including a firefighter, were injured, according to hospital officials. A spokesperson for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said four patients were discharged, two remained under care in fair condition and two were transferred to another hospital for advanced care.
Lt. Todd Inserra, public information officer for the Tallahassee Fire Department, said the firefighter suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. Six patients were taken by ambulance to a local hospital for “further medical evaluation,” TFD said in a news release.
“Upon arrival, there was heavy fire through the roof and reports of multiple people being trapped,” Inserra told the Democrat. “So we immediately went into rescue operations as well as fire suppression operations. And that’s when we rescued two people from the second floor.”
He said the Fire Department called a second alarm to marshal more firefighters and equipment to battle the blaze.
“This was a multi-residential structure, three floors, fire on every floor basically,” he said. “So this was certainly not a run-of-the-mill response.”
Inserra added that TFD got the fire under control quickly. However, a number of apartments were gutted. Tallahassee Police Department Watch Commander Lieutenant Martinez told student journalists at the FSView and Florida Flambeau that nearby buildings were evacuated and one was a “total loss.”
“There were 24 units in that apartment, and 12 of them were pretty much destroyed,” Inserra said. “I believe we did save the other half of the building.”
Cause of the fire at Seminole Social is not known
TFD said in a news release that the State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.
When asked about what sparked the inferno, Martinez told the Democrat “we’re not sure.”
TFD firefighters stayed on scene throughout the night and into the morning of Nov. 20 putting out hot spots from large ladder trucks from Stations 4 and 1.
“We’re going to be here a while,” one firefighter said.
A firefighter from Station 1 focused a large water nozzle known as an aerial master stream from a ladder towering over the building.
“Firefighters continued suppression efforts for an extended period, working with multiple units to bring the fire under control and prevent further spread,” TFD said. “Multiple aerial trucks were set up during the incident.”
The Tallahassee Fire Department responds to a major fire that began the night of Nov. 19, 2025, at The Social Seminole, a sprawling off-campus apartment complex on Ocala Road. Firefighters worked into the night, continuing to battle hot spots the early Nov. 20, 2025.
The Social Seminole, not far from Florida State University, bills itself as “the No. 1 off-campus student housing option in Tallahassee with fully furnished studios and spacious four-bedroom floorplans.”
Charles Sermon, a maintenance tech at the Social Seminole, told the FSView he learned about the fire via text.
“So I called to the supervisors and I said, ‘hey, the building is on fire, man,’ and I said it looked like F building. I could see all the people filming on the sidewalk and I was like, what, this is a bad one right here,” Sermon said. “I’m just thankful everyone is safe, that’s number one. We don’t care about material stuff. Life is more than anything. I just hope everything works out and they take care of these people out here.”
Firefighter says students jumped from window to escape inferno
As the sun came up the morning after the fire, rays of light bounced off charred roof beams that were left standing. A few residents lingered around the gutted building at 7:30 a.m. as a handful of firefighters surveyed the damage and began to deal with the aftermath of the blaze.
One firefighter pointed to the second story where the floor gave out. He said students jumped from the windows to escape the collapse.
An FSU student in a neighboring building said he, too, saw people jumping from third-floor windows to make it out alive.
“My window was open, and I heard someone yelling ‘No, no, no,’” said the student, who declined to give his name. “I thought maybe it was a shooting. I didn’t know anything until I heard a blazing sound.”
But even the crackling of the fire he thought might have been rainfall. But the panic in the resident’s voice told him otherwise.
“There was no fire alarm — nothing,” he said.
As he emerged from his room to see what was happening, he saw “something bashing on the ground” — people who had jumped from the top floor.
By mid-morning, water continued to trickle through the building and pool on the grounds. A sound like continuous raindrops hitting the ground could be heard amid the rumbles of fire engines and beeps of tow trucks.
Students lose everything, FSU and Red Cross assisting victims, how you can help
Colbert, who’s from Jacksonville, escaped with some of his essentials: his TV, laptop, PlayStation and a basket of clothing. But he left everything else, including most of his clothes, in the apartment, which didn’t catch on fire but got plenty of smoke damage. He came back around 4 a.m. the next morning but didn’t stay long.
“I just walked in,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe. It’s like horrible.”
He said he doesn’t know where he will live given the damage to his apartment but figured he wouldn’t renew his lease.
“A lot of people are going to be dealing with this stuff,” he said.
The fire comes as students were preparing for the holidays with the semester winding down.
Flames engulf Building F at The Social Seminole apartment complex on Ocala Road on Nov. 19, 2025. At least seven people, including a Tallahassee firefighter, were injured.
Amy Farnum-Patronis, FSU’s senior director of communications, told the FSView on Thursday morning that the university will provide support to students affected by the fire through the Victim’s Advocate Program. Students in need of assistance can call their hotline 24/7 at (850) 644-7161 or text (850) 756-4320.
“FSUPD, chief of police, the FSU Dean of Students and other Student Affairs staff responded to the fire in the middle of the night to assist students,” Farnum-Patronis said.
The Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross urged members of the community who want to help young people impacted by the fire to donate to the Student Emergency Fund at give.fsu.edu.
“Late last night, Red Cross volunteers responded to a 24-unit fire at the Social Seminole apartments on Ocala Rd, displacing 72 adults, one infant, and four pets — including 53 FSU students,” the Red Cross said. “Our team, led by Marc Boyd, coordinated with property management, the FSU Dean of Students, and an FSU victims advocate. All residents had a safe place to stay, and relocation to vacant units is underway.”
(This is a developing story. Check back for details).
Student journalists with the FSView and Florida Flambeau, Cameron Glymph and Justice Ulrich, contributed to this story. Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee fire at Social Seminole apartment complex injures eight