HOUSTON – The American Red Cross is helping families Tuesday night after a fire damaged several homes in southeast Houston.
The Houston Fire Department responded to the fire just before 6 p.m. near Avenue C and 76th Street.
“It came fast,” Ramiro Hernandez said. “My uncle, he wouldn’t come out. He’s sick.”
Hernandez said he evacuated his elderly uncle and dog, Blacky, safely. A relative and two young girls were also evacuated.
“She heard a boom in the back garage apartment,” HFD Chief Rochas said of the adult female survivor. “We’re a mile and a half away. When we turned the corner, we saw the column of smoke.”
A fire captain was transported for observation for heat exhaustion, Rochas said.
About a dozen people were displaced and five homes and apartment homes were damaged or destroyed. The cause of the fire is unknown as officials investigate the scene.