A large apartment complex with 396 units that was under construction caught fire on Tuesday in Houston. The fire was first reported at 12:30 local time, and firefighters were immediately dispatched to the scene.
There is no report on how the fire started, but it quickly spread with the help of strong wind gusts that were said to reach a speed of 25 mph. Within a few minutes, the fire had grown from a three-alarm to a four-alarm situation, and it even reached a five-alarm situation around an hour after the fire started.
Black smoke and fire could be seen from several miles away and more than 200 fire department personnel and 80 units were there at the scene.
Check out the size of this fire
According to the authorities, the fire was heavily driven by the strong winds and they were working hard to contain the fire within the affected area to prevent it from spreading to the nearby structures.
Capt. Ruy Lozano of the Houston Fire Department says that construction workers were the only ones present in the building when it caught fire, and their count indicates that everyone survived the blaze. They only had to rescue one man who was ready to jump from the third floor to get away from the large flames.
Man on verge of jumping from third floor, saved
There were also no reports of injuries.
Some people from the neighboring building say that they saw a construction worker attempting to extinguish the flames, but the fire quickly spread across the roof.
The firefighters were able to keep the fire under control around two-and-a-half hours after the fire had started.
This is not the first time the residential building at W. Dallas and Marconi Street gained attention.
According to reports, the building was erected just a few steps from the Magnolia Cemetery, which had headstones that were centuries old. Trisha Keel, a Houston resident, says that she could sit on the building’s patio and place her feet on a gravestone, as the building was that close to the cemetery.
Now, some local residents believe the fire may have been arson, resulting from opposition to the building being constructed so close to the gravesite.
Authorities are investigating.
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