HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – A massive three-alarm blaze tore through 60 apartments in a suspected arson in southwest Houston Sunday morning.
Dozens of fire trucks swarmed the Santa Monica Apartments on Hillcroft around 1 a.m. after flames and heavy smoke broke out in the middle of the two-story complex.
“They did an excellent job cutting it off, trying to save the rest of the building and the complex,” said Houston Fire Department Chief Jason Wells.
At first, firefighters battled the blaze from inside the complex, running door-to-door and alerting residents.
Police, firefighters and neighbors banged on doors to get everyone out, said Jennifer Lugo, whose uncle and cousins lived in a second-story apartment that was one of the hardest hit.
“They lost everything,” she said.
As the fire grew and first responders pulled a second and then a third alarm, eventually crews were forced to pull back into defensive mode.
HFD brought in ladder trucks to douse the building and shut down nearby roads.
“It was spreading rapidly, but the crews did an amazing job,” Wells said. “There’s no reports of any civilian injuries, no reports of any firefighter injuries.”
After the flames died down, the Red Cross showed up to help the displaced residents whose apartments were rendered uninhabitable. Ebony Fowler, a disaster program specialist, said there were at least 20 families that had been displaced, but the non-profit was still trying to get an accurate headcount.
Arson investigators are probing the cause of the fire, according to HFD spokeswoman Sheldra Brigham.
