Fire Damages 20 Units At Campus View Apartments
COLLEGE STATION- 21 people are without a place to live Monday night after an early morning apartment fire caused major damage at the Campus View Apartments in College Station.
Fire officials announced late Monday afternoon the cause of the fire was related to a heating unit located in the ceiling of an upstairs apartment.
News 3 looks at why the fire spread so quickly.
Flames shot out of the roof of the Campus View Apartments on Harvey Road in College Station.
Residents like Abraham Obregon were woken up by police and firefighters pounding on doors.
"We found that the building right next to ours is completely engulfed in flames. The entire roof is on fire," he said.
"Yeah this corner there was a very big flame," said Qibo Li, another resident.
Nearly 50 firefighters fought back the flames.
"At one point the fire went through the roof and we had to go into defensive mode," said Eric Dotson, College Station Fire Marshal.
"The fire pretty much traveled the whole length of the attic and exposed all the rafters and began catching them and the roof on fire and then once the roof opened up it received it's oxygen and just went into full flame effect," said Robert Mumford, College Station Fire Department Public Information Officer.
Residents grabbed what they could. Anthony McHan escaped from his building in a just a bear costume.
"It makes me wish I would have grabbed something else because all the stuff I own is about like thirty feet from that fire," he said.
Caution tape and fire crews were still on scene just after noon but things have died down significantly since the fire broke out a little after 5 A.M.. A number of residents were not home at the time of the fire and are believed to be college students still gone on winter break.
Alicia Plunkett's apartment has smoke damage.
"It was coming through our vents and it was really scary," Plunkett said.
The Red Cross and College Station CART Team are assisting.
"So that they're able to make their recovery and more importantly be able to stay in school this semester," said Curtis Eckman, Disaster Program Manager for the American Red Cross in Bryan.
"I'm happy, I thank God you know that they were able to get us and wake us up really," said Abraham Obregon.
One resident was treated on scene for smoke inhalation and two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
A cause for the fire is still under investigation.
*Previous Story*
A fire broke out at the Campus View Apartments around 5:00 a.m, off Harvey Road in College Station.
Fire crews did have it under control, but flames reignited. Building C was engulfed in flames.
Forty crew members and 14 units from both College Station and Bryan responded to the scene. The fire is now out at this time.
Apartment residents were evacuated to Rudy's BBQ restaurant just across the street. They were transferred to a nearby church and American Red Cross has arrived on scene.
Harvey road was shut between Stallings Road near Pro Tech Auto repair shop and George Bush Drive. We are now being told that George Bush has since reopened
We'll continue to update you on new details
Comments
Post a Comment