Residents describe moment SW Houston apartment building caught fire: 'It was scary for everybody'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Several families living at a southwest Houston apartment complex are without a home after a fire started Tuesday morning.

Houston Fire Department officials said at about 7:30 a.m., they got the initial call about the incident happening at the Sterling Point apartments on Dunlap Street near Bellaire Boulevard in Sharpstown.

Authorities said no one was seriously hurt in the fire, and only a civilian and a firefighter had minor injuries. One of them reportedly suffered from heat exhaustion.

HFD District Chief Jay Garcia said more than a dozen apartments were affected.

ABC13 spoke with some residents who said the fire occurred on the other side of the complex from where they were.

"I was asleep, and it's about the time I wake up, and I was smelling smoke, so I am looking around," DaMarvia Miller said.

"I kind of looked and I (saw) that building was smoking and everybody just running," Frank Fernandez added.

According to HFD, when firefighters arrived, everyone had been able to get out of the burning apartments safely.

A witness at the scene shared videos showing flames coming from the second and third floors of the complex.

"The difficulty we had was the fact that it got into the attic, and it ran all throughout one unit, and then it got to the second building, so because of the pitched roof, we had a hard time," Chief Garcia said.

Garcia said all of the apartments in one building and several in a second building are damaged.

"I was just shocked how fast it just spread, and it was scary for everybody," Fernandez said. The Red Cross was called in to assist families.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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