HFD insists burned SE Houston apartment thoroughly searched despite body found 5 days after fire

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Fire Department is answering questions about how they found a person's burned body at a fire scene five days later.

On Thursday, HPD received a call at 12:20 p.m. about a man found dead inside a burned building at 1221 Redford St.

Homicide investigators said someone with public works was working when the body was found.

The Redford Apartments were the scene of a fire on Oct. 1, which forced several residents to evacuate. The blaze burned through 12 units, investigators said.

ABC13 was there when the department reported there were no injuries or deaths.

But when fire crews were called back to the scene Thursday, after complaints about a horrible smell, they found the body on the second floor of the building.

Assistant Fire Chief Michael Mire said search efforts were difficult on Saturday. He said management could not verify if that apartment had been leased, or if anyone else was missing.

People living at the complex had been talking about this fire since it happened over the weekend.

Sharonda Davis heard what neighbors had been saying, and said that discovering a body confuses her.

"That it was a body in there. That it was a stinky smell when they passed by," Davis said. "How can they find a body now, after they've already been through the apartments?"

But Mire said that stuff like this happens.

"Following 9/11 and some other incidents here in the city, it's not unusual for bodies to be so severely damaged that you may never find them," Mire said.

The medical examiner's office has the body now to determine how the person died. But Mire explained how firefighters could have overlooked the body.

"The second floor had collapsed onto the first," Mire said. "In fact, where we found the victim (Thursday), the victim was heavily covered by debris and they have to take a good hour and a half or so to see."

Davis said firefighters should not have left the scene before doing a thorough search.

"They kept telling them there was somebody in there," Davis recalled.

Mire believes a thorough search had been done, and added that they cleared the scene after apartment staff could not verify someone lived there.

When asked what message he has for the victim's family, Mire said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. It's difficult for us to assume how they would feel, so what words do you tell someone who has lost a loved one and after this time they are not aware? It's a very unfortunate outcome."