College Station firefighter injured at blaze site

A College Station firefighter suffered a minor back injury Saturday at an apartment fire on Holleman Drive. Authorities said the blaze started in a central heating unit in a building at the Tower Park Apartments, but the exact cause is still under investigation. Firefighters were called to the scene at 8:31 a.m., and it took them about 25 minutes to control the fire.

College Station Fire Department spokesman Bart Humphreys said the firefighter was injured while packing up to leave after the blaze was under control. No residents were hurt in the blaze, he said. About 20 firefighters worked the scene.

Humphreys said the damage was confined to the unit where the fire started and no other apartments were damaged by smoke or water. Other people who lived in the building were also displaced because power had to be turned off.

By Saturday afternoon, officials had cleared the scene and there was little sign of damage visible from outside.

Humphreys said that the department didn’t have an accurate count of how many residents were displaced by the fire because many were gone for the holiday weekend. A couple lived in the unit damaged by the fire, he said.

Those displaced were receiving assistance from the department’s Community Action Response Team and the American Red Cross on Saturday night.
By Matthew Watkins in The Bryan College Station Eagle