Officials: 3 dead, 4 injured following Lacy Lakeview apartment fire
16 apartments deemed a total loss as cause remains under investigation.
LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas (KWTX) - Three people are dead, and four others are injured, after a fire destroyed an apartment complex, according to Lacy Lakeview Fire Chief Cody Newman.
Newman said The Red Cross has 14 cases open and is helping around 30 people displaced by the fire. All of the families affected have received hotel vouchers to get them by for the next few days.
For those with pets, Cribs for Canines is temporarily offering crates and food.
Firefighters first responded to a call at 11:30 p.m. July 16 to the Northgate Apartments at 115 Faye Drive.
When they arrived, the two-story apartment complex was engulfed in flames.
At the time of the incident many tenants were already in bed.
”I was asleep and my fiance and her friend Sydney were asleep on the couch,” tenant Austin Davis said.
So some like Acacia Adams began banging on doors to alert the others.
”I warned everybody because I understood I can’t save everybody, so maybe if I scream or yell I can alert them to get out,” she said.
By the time word got around flames already blocked tenants Bryan Brooks and Catie Rhey’s door. So the couple, who live on the second floor, were left with no choice but to jump.
”My partner pushed me out the window and it was pretty scary because I’m scared of heights, but thank God we’re alive and we don’t have any broken bones,” Rhey said.
One of the deceased victims was identified to KWTX as Marshall Burns. “He was a veteran who loved his country and his family and friends,” states a GoFundMe account set up to help his family.
Fire officials said 16 apartment units burned to the ground. The fire also led to a power outage from Faye Drive to Smith Street.
Lacey Lakeview, Bellmead, Waco, West, Ross, AMR McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, and other crews were at the scene.
Tenants like Davis and his fiance Rheannon Rivero say they found the perfect place to call home at Northgate Apartments.
”We got denied from literally every other place before we found this place,” Davis said.
Now the two, along with the rest of their neighbors have lost not only their home, but also their phones, IDs, birth certificates, family photos and more.
Davis’s family has set up a GoFundMe as they begin the long road to recovery.
The state Fire Marshal’s office is still investigating the cause of the fire.
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