Billy Johnson said a Fort Worth fire destroyed the apartment units he and other residents had just moved into two weeks earlier. The blaze broke out around 6 a.m. Tuesday at a two-story building in the 6700 block of Calmont Avenue near Interstate 30 and Green Oaks Boulevard.
Firefighters estimated roughly 50 apartments were affected, and about 100 people were forced out. Johnson said, "A lot of pain. Our faith and hope has been destroyed today. Our only material things we have can be replaced."
Calmont Avenue in Fort Worth
Fort Worth firefighters sounded three alarms as they battled the fire on the west side of the city. Images from nearby traffic cameras and FOX 4 crews showed the building fully engulfed in flames, and residents said the fire jumped from one building to another.
At least one firefighter was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and later returned to work. Four residents were treated after breathing in thick, black smoke, and two of them were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Billy Johnson and Guadalupe Jamarillo
Johnson also said, "It’s just crazy because everybody just lost everything," and, "And we just moved in two weeks ago so we just lost everything. We literally just put all of our eggs in this basket." Guadalupe Jamarillo said, "This weekend, Friday, you’d turn on the lights in the restroom, and you’d smell something like a short circuit."
She also said, "They kept saying, ‘it’s getting fixed, getting fixed'. But nothing," while Johnson said, "The units they gave us did not receive no kind of break because the units are so small to where they couldn’t really cool us off. We kept them going 24-7," about portable air conditioning units residents were using in the heat.
American Red Cross
Trinity Metro buses were reported to take residents to a temporary shelter set up by the American Red Cross. Investigators were still controlling hot spots Tuesday and had not determined what caused the fire, even as some residents pointed to a possible electrical problem.
For people who lived there, the immediate step was shelter, not a return home. Roughly 50 apartments still had to be checked, and the cause had not yet been established when the fire crews finished focusing on hot spots.
