12 Clear Lake apartments destroyed

A massive fire that sent flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air Friday night at the University Green Apartments and Townhomes in Clear Lake, destroyed a dozen apartments in the Bay Area Boulevard complex.

Most were nothing more than a pile of rubble by Saturday morning, although one was still standing and a resident was trying to salvage some of her belongings.

Fortunately, there were no reported injuries from the blaze, which started about 7 p.m. and brought out firefighters from all over the area, including Webster and Nassau Bay volunteer firemen, to help Houston firefighters.

While firemen fought the blaze, hundreds of Clear Lake residents lined Bay Area Boulevard, aghast at the flames that were threatening dozens of other apartments and townhomes in the complex at 1620 Bay Area.

Fearing for their safety, police officers had to cordon off part of the area to keep onlookers a safe distance from the activity and close the heavily traveled boulevard to all but essential traffic.

The fire was one of two that brought out the Houston Fire Department Friday night. Only a few minutes earlier, they fought a two-alarm house fire on Huntress Lane, near Silver Pines Road in Clear Lake, just a few hundred feet from the apartment blaze.

That fire was quickly brought under control and put out.
By Mary Alys Cherry in The Bay Area Citizen