The blaze started around 4pm at a home on Wild Willow Lane near Sand Hill Glen Drive in northwest Harris County.
Outside was the last place this family wanted to be on a freezing evening, but it was the safest place to go when their longtime home went up in flames.
"All I can remember it was just so overwhelming," 13-year-old Chris said.
The young man helped to get his two younger cousins to safety, and then ran back into the smoky house.
"It was pitch black; couldn't see nothing. My grandma was in there. She couldn't see where she was," he said. "I had to run back in and help her."
Neighbors called 911. Then they grabbed the closest hose and sprayed.
"The fire was blowing on the side of our house," neighbor Richard Rowland said.
Neighbor Terese Ranchar said she thought her home was on fire as well.
"I saw the flames was just out of control and I was like, 'oh, my Lord. Here it goes.'"
The Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department's fast attack saved most of the house. Officials said the damage was contained mostly to the garage structure, but there was also significant damage done to the home's electrical wiring.
"There was a boat, refrigerator and some other things in the garage," Robert Rasa with Cy-Fair VFD said.
For Chris, the materials can be replaced. It's his family and the house he and his mom grew up in that can't.
"It would've been a real tragic loss to see all this burn down," he said.
Everyone, including the family's pets, got out safely.. The cause of the fire appears to be electrical.
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