Firefighters battle North Waco house fire

Update: Family escapes fire in North Waco, but home engulfed
A mother, her 4-year-old son and her female friend escaped a fire Wednesday morning at the house they rented in North Waco. Melissa Gutierrez’s mother, Mary Ellen Gutierrez, said she came to the house on the 20th block of Windsor Avenue to comfort her her daughter and grandson, Malaki. She said Melissa Gutierrez and a friend who lived in the house found Malaki inside a room where a king-size mattress was on fire.

Mary Ellen Gutierrez said there also were lit candles inside the room. Melissa Gutierrez and her friend struggled unsuccessfully to drag the burning mattress out of the house before the house caught on fire.

The Waco Fire Department was called to the house at 9:40 a.m. and had put out the flames by 9:50 a.m., Assistant Chief Patrick Kerwin said.

The fire burned so hot that screens and blinds on the windows of the home next door were melted, Kerwin said.

Property owner John Bingham started boarding up the house that afternoon. Bingham said the house probably would need to be demolished, but he still was waiting on an insurance adjuster to assess the damage.

Melissa Gutierrez sat with her son in the street as the house continued to smolder, and several family members and friends consoled the two. Both mother and son were able to walk, and neither appeared to have life-threatening burns. They were treated by East Texas Medical Center EMTs and taken away in an ambulance.

Kerwin said Gutierrez had another, older son who was in school when the fire occurred.

Tom Hittle, a disaster assessment team member at the Red Cross, said Guiterrez and her sons will be staying with family, but the Red Cross is helping them with food, clothing, landlord referrals and up to $300 to go toward renting a new home.
By Michael W. Shapiro in The Waco Tribune-Herald
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A mother and child escaped from their burning home without injury Wednesday morning.
Firefighters were called to the 2000 block of Windsor Avenue in Waco just after 9:30 with reports of a house on fire.

The first unit on the scene reported being able to see smoke from blocks away. Firefighters on the scene tell News Channel 25 that it took 10 minutes to bring the fire under control. The two people inside were able to escape without injury.

A fire marshal is on the scene and will be investigating the cause of the fire once the structure is deemed safe.
By Patrick Tolbert at KXXV News, Waco Temple Killeen