'Mistakes happen': Aunt says nephew and his friend started Ocala fireworks apartment fire

OCALA, Fla. - A fire that started in an Ocala apartment happened because of a child playing with a firework, police said.

Shelia Williams said the children playing with the fireworks were her 9-year-old nephew and his friend. She said they got hold of a lighter and fireworks and set them off inside her Ocala apartment causing it to go up in flames. 

She now says she regrets not putting the fireworks in a place the children couldn't get them.

"It’s sad it had to happen this way. If I could go back in time I would have put them up somewhere. But, it happened. Mistakes happen," Williams said. "He’s very sorry for what happened."

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The fire happened earlier this month on July 1, ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. 

Fire crews responded to reports of a structure fire at Berkeley Pointe Apartments and put out the flames. Two weeks later, Williams says she and her neighbors still can't get back into their homes. 

She'd like the complex to clean the apartment units so they all have a place to live.

"It’s devastating, it’s sad, that we don’t have anywhere to stay," she said.

FOX 35 Orlando did reach out to the company that owns the property and has not heard back from them as of Friday evening.