'Something came through the window': Veteran escapes house fire in northeast Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Firefighters say a veteran was able to safely escape a house fire in northeast Houston.

The fire started after 1 a.m. at Texarkana St. and Port St. on Sunday.

"All I knew was, it came through the window. Big ball of fire and that was it," said Vietnam veteran Marcus Gutierrez.

Gutierrez escaped the blaze with burns to his arms and hands.

"I was watching TV. Next thing I knew, something came through the window. There was a big ball of fire. I turned around to see. This is how I put my hands up got burned right on my hands," said Gutierrez.

When asked if they could confirm that something was thrown into the bedroom of the home, District Chief Joe Kittrell said firefighters are investigating.

"We can't confirm that yet, obviously. Arson is investigating in order to determine what exactly happened on that," said Kittrell.

Kittrell says multiple cats were rescued from the home, but not all of them survived. He said the contents in the house made escape difficult. According to Kittrell, there were piles of aluminum cans and cat food cans knee deep in the home.

"We had numerous cats that were rescued from the fire - unfortunately all of them didn't make it out of the house," said Kittrell.

Follow Charly Edsitty on Facebook and Twitter.