Houston Three-alarm fire destroys 48 apartments

Forty-eight northwest Houston apartments were destroyed in a three-alarm blaze that sent one firefighter to the hospital. Click here for video /

The fire was at an apartment complex in the 5800 of West Gulf Bank late Monday night.

A Houston firefighter had to be taken to the hospital because of heat exhaustion. Parts of the complex west side were under renovation after a fire last year; this fire started on the east side.

One resident described the blaze as, “the whole thing was like somebody poured gas on it.”

Some firefighters were still on the scene Tuesday morning, watching for hot spots and determining how safe the structure is.

No residents were hurt, but two firefighters were treated for heat-related injuries.

“It was so hot,” resident Damon Hines said. “It started, but it was a full blaze by the time everybody recognized it was on fire.”

“We thought it was just policemen, and when we came downstairs it was like, ‘what’s going on?’” resident Bennie Profit said. “You could feel the heat on the sidewalk.”

Arson investigators will be on the scene Tuesday to try and determine how the fire started.

www.khou.com

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HOUSTON — Dozens of families lost their homes and belongings in a three-alarm fire that damaged three buildings at a northwest Houston apartment complex, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Houston firefighters said the fire on Monday was the second blaze in a month at the Timbers of Inwood Forest Apartment Homes on West Gulf Bank Road near Green Lawn Drive.

The fire broke out at about 8:45 p.m. and swept through two occupied buildings and an empty building, officials said.

“It just kept going. It got up into the attic,” District Chief Tommy Dowdy said. “Once it got up into the attic I’m sure it traveled. Once it gets to that point, there’s no stopping it.”

Residents ran for their lives. Everyone made it out safely, but most of them do not have a home to go back to.

“The roof’s burnt off of them, so the upstairs parts of them are going to be totally gone,” Dowdy said. “If there’s any downstairs, you have a lot of water damage. We had heavy streams in operation. They were dumping a lot of water.”

One firefighter was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment for heat exhaustion.

Arson investigators plan to search for a cause of the fire on Tuesday. They were not able to enter the building overnight because hotspots flared up.

Apartment managers relocated the residents to other units at the complex.