Two-alarm apartment fire displaces residents in SW Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Dozens of people are now without a place to stay after a fire ripped through a southwest side apartment building.

The fire broke out early this morning at an apartment complex on S. Dairy Ashford at Brookglade Circle.

Firefighters say no residents were trapped by the blaze, but one man helped three kids get to safety.

"She was like my kids, my kids," said resident Howard Soularie.

Resident Howard Soularie heard a mother screaming for help, and says he knew what he had to do.

"I jumped the patio, and bust the window, and when I went in there and got the little girl, she turned around and pointed, like, my sisters," he said.

He quickly learned there were two more to save.

"The house was on fire when I went in there and got them two," said Soularie.

"I was scared 'cause anything could have happened. That smoke could have gotten to him, he could have passed out," said Howard's girlfriend Leah Brewster.

"He had one out by the time I got there and there were two more. He honestly went in there and got'em. He was really brave," said neighbor Jamil Tippins.

The Houston Fire Department tells us there were no serious injuries and that may be thanks to two selfless neighbors.

"I would like somebody else to do something like that for my kids, if they were in the house by themselves," Soularie said.

"I spoke to the dad, he tried to walk up and reward me, but I told him, can't nobody reward me like God, you know," said Tippins.

At least four units have been destroyed, and two dozen have suffered damage, displacing residents.