Brothers tear down door to escape burning home in NW Houston
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Trapped by flames inside their northwest Houston home, three brothers had to work together to escape a raging fire.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 800 block of Mansfield at Knox just after 6am, where three brothers, ranging in age from their 50s to 60s, where awakened by an inferno.
"My brother, he woke me up and said the lamp was on fire," said homeowner Marvin Braxton. "We tried to put it out and we couldn't do it. We had to go and rush to try to get my other brother out of the house."
Flames kept the men from getting out of the front of the home.
"All the front was already burning," Braxton said. "He is diabetic and couldn't get out of the bed. We couldn't do nothing. I had to come out with my shorts on. I didn't have no clothes on. We were trying to go through the house to get my other brother out, but we had to tear down back door to get him out of there."
Firefighters went into defensive mode and put out the flames.
"Really had high heat conditions on the inside," explained District Fire Chief Kevin Carley with Station 31. "The crews were unable to force their way up to the front of the house to knock the bulk of the fire down. We did eventually back them out and go into a defensive mode, where we hit it from the outside."
Two of the men were treated by paramedics for an ankle injury and a pre-existing medical condition.
The house was gutted by the fire. The brothers now have to start from scratch on land their family has owned for years. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
