Firefighter risks life to save resident's dog from west Houston blaze

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A west Houston resident is lucky to still have his dog after a blaze consumed his entire apartment and a firefighter was brave enough to risk his life to save the pet.

The call for help came in just after 6:30pm Monday at the Lakeside Place Apartments. Houston firefighters say this all began in the garage of a unit. A car was under fire and when firefighters arrived their concern was the flames would spread to nearby units.

More than 75 firefighters responded to the scene. At one point, officials called May Day after one firefighter got lost in the smoke for awhile. Luckily, he came out and so did a cat and a dog named Junior that had to be rescued. Firefighters had to resuscitate Junior by giving him oxygen. He was later reunited with a very happy and grateful owner.

Needless to say, the flames and all the commotion gave residents here a big scare.

"Smoke was coming out of heater every apartment so I just came up and called for help and a guy came up from another apartment."

"Very scared I came home and called for help like 20 times, I was very scared."

None of the residents were injured. One firefighter, however, suffered a slight shoulder injury. Officials tell us about 10 units suffered major damage.

No word yet on the cause of the fire, but arson investigators will be looking into it.