HOUSTON — Firefighters responded to the scene of a deadly house fire in southwest Houston Tuesday morning, according to the Houston Fire Department.
This happened at a home on Longbrook Drive near Leawood Boulevard.
Houston fire officials said a victim was found dead inside the house after the fire was put out.
Neighbors said they woke up hearing screams and eventually sirens. Many said they were shocked when they stepped outside and their neighbor's home on fire.
“I started hearing screaming. At first, I thought I was having a nightmare,” Gilbert Benitez, a neighbor, said. “The first thing I saw was a neighbor. He was like, running around trying to find a hose, trying to fight the fire himself.”
That person he saw was Bred Gross, who says he’s lived at the home for about a month and was inside when the fire started.
“I was trying to fight the fire. It was on the porch,” he said.
Also, inside the home when the fire sparked, Lyn Vonderheide, who said she’s lived there for 15 years.
“Everything was normal. All of a sudden, dirty laundry. And I see smoke coming from my vent,” she said.
They thought the fire was in the attic, but it wasn’t.
“So when we came around front, we saw the flames,” Vonderheide said.
Vonderheide said it was her friend “Brett" who died.
“We knew Brett was in the room adjacent to mine and we couldn’t get the door open I guess something had fallen in front of it,” she said.
She added that Brett moved in several months ago.
“He was very kind,” she said.
As Vonderheide mourns the loss of her friend, she has this message for others.
“I can only tell you if you see smoke in your house get out because had I stayed behind, I probably would’ve been a victim also,” she said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown at this time and officials are still here on the scene working to learn more.
No firefighters were injured during the fire.