Neighbors reported seeing a raging fire and then hearing kids screaming. We're told neighbors jumped into action and helped save those children's lives.
"When I came over here, the flames were already going up," said maintenance worker Felipe Soto.
Firefighters say the blaze broke out around 6:30pm in an upstairs corner unit at the Courtland Park apartments on Westward at Hillcroft.
Witnesses say as residents realized what was going on, neighbors in a downstairs unit heard children yelling, so one neighbor rushed over and pulled the two boys -- believed to be 11 and 12 -- from a window.
"They say, 'It's burning, it's burning' and they said they took them out through this window," said Soto.
Witness reported that two children may have been home alone when the fire started, but investigators determined the father was present.
Houston Fire Department arson investigators have determined that an electrical malfunction in the kitchen caused the fire. The fire was tapped out in just over an hour with no reported injuries. The fire was contained to the unit of origin causing about $47,000 in damage, with heavy damage to the kitchen.
