"When something happen, what do you do? You have to think instant and do something quick," she said.
And with that, she did. She ran to her front yard, grabbed the garden hose and started fighting the fire herself. Before long, she says, other neighbors started joining in dumping water on the flames, including 13-year-old Jonathan Ely.
"I ran, turned the hose on and just hoped for the best and hoped it wouldn't come over," he said.
Firefighters credit homeowners for helping them get the blaze under control. They say with the winds what they were at the time, it could have been a whole lot worse.
"It started off as a one by one fire and within five minutes, we had five acres burning," said Captain David Pace with the Klein Volunteer Fire Department.
For Zahir, who snapped photos to remember how the close the flames got to her home, she says the experience has brought her a whole new appreciation of where she lives.
"It's like a community, all united," said Zahir. "If something happens, we're all together like a family."
Firefighters say because of our dry conditions, these types of fires are common. So far, investigators haven't determined a cause of this fire.
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