TEXAS CITY, Texas — Firefighters rescued three children from a balcony during a massive apartment fire in Texas City Wednesday morning.
The rescue was caught on camera by a KHOU 11 viewer.
Texas City Fire Chief Micah Simons said fire crews responded to the fire at about 6:45 a.m. at the Del Sol Apartments at the corner of Loop 197 and 25th Avenue. When fire crews first arrived, there were reports of people trapped inside of the fire, the chief said. They saw the children on the balcony and used a ladder the reach them. The children were checked after the rescue and did not suffer any injuries.
One woman who lives nearby rushed to the scene to find her grandchildren who were rescued. She is glad her family is safe, but there is some loss they’re experiencing.
“So thank God they’re OK. The sad thing is the dog is gone, of course, and everything they had, they were working so hard to save up to buy their first home, and he was just saying how much they hate apartments on Sunday when I was here,” Debbie Scales, the grandmother of the children rescued said.
Life Flight and ambulances were also called to the scene when firefighters thought they might have people trapped inside, the chief said. However, that ended up not being the case. No injuries were reported. However, the building is a total loss and left 16 families without a home.
"There were two units basically fully involved so we were fighting from behind when we got here, so really our primary focus was getting the people out that were trapped," Texas City battalion fire chief Micah Simons said.
Scales says a nearby church provided socks and shoes for her grandchildren, who were wearing their pajamas when the fire started.
"[The church] brought in some dolls and some things for the girls but I’m concerned about my 12-year-old grandson. He looks in a daze. The dog was a family pet, you know. He’s very upset," Scales said.
Texas City Housing Authority, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and the apartment complex are all involved to make sure that housing is found for all 16 families that were affected.
Investigators haven’t been able to get into the building yet to determine what caused the fire.