Firefighters responded early Thursday morning as a large fire swept through a Far East Dallas apartment complex, leaving 23 families homeless.

September 16, 2021 – By Catherine Marfin – Source Dallas Morning News

The American Red Cross has been called to help the residents of about two dozen apartments that were damaged early Thursday by a large fire at a Far East Dallas complex.

Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to the fire just before 1 a.m. at 11050 Woodmeadow Parkway, near Ferguson Road and Interstate 635.

The three-story apartment complex had heavy flames coming through its roof when firefighters arrived. The blaze was “well advanced,” but first repsonders were able to cut it off by attacking it through a breezeway in front of the flames, Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.

Of the 24 apartments in the building, 12 sustained damage. The rest were uninhabitable because of water and smoke, Evans said. One of the units in the building was not occupied.

One resident was taken to a hospital with burns that were not believed to be life-threatening. He was hurt while he was trying to escape the building, Evans said. No other injuries were reported.

Dallas Fire-Rescue investigators think the fire began in a third-floor apartment but don’t know yet the exact cause.

Firefighters were headed back into the building  around 9 a.m. to clear debris and put out embers they feared could reignite the fire, a spokesman said at the scene.

Fire alarms were still whirling as residents, who had yet to be placed in temporary housing, watched from the complex’s parking lot.

Jelisa Richards, 32, who lives in the building next door, described the fire as “devastating.” She was at work when the fire started, but came home after her 13-year-old son called her and said the building was being evacuated.

Her son was asleep in their car this morning, and the family wasn’t allowed back into the building because of safety concerns.

Wesley Gaddison’s second-floor apartment was near the heart of the fire.

Gaddison, 34, said he was waiting to be told where to go and whether or not he could grab things from his apartment. A spokesman on the scene said the fire department advised it was not safe for residents for go back into the building.

The apartment manager said the complex was waiting on an official report as to what caused the fire, and residents would be moved into vacant housing at a sister property across the highway.

Krystle Kennison, 36, was comforting friends at the scene. Kennison lives in a nearby building unaffected by the fire.

”I didn’t think anything of it,” she recalled thinking after waking up to alarms and sirens. “But then I woke up to this mess.”

Others who lived in the complex said their apartments were flooded by fire hoses, and some cars sustained damage from debris.

©2021 The Dallas Morning News. Visit dallasnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The director of the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando called it his “worst nightmare” after a fire tore through the building and killed between 20 and 30 cats.

September 16, 2021 – By Lisa Maria Garza – Source Orlando Sentinel

An estimated 20 to 30 cats were killed in a fire at the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando late Wednesday in what the shelter’s executive director called his “worst nightmare.”

The blaze, reported to Orange County Fire Rescue at 10:21 p.m., heavily damaged the 5,000-square-foot building, located at 2727 Conroy Road near the Mall at Millenia. “Flames [were] through the roof” of the shelter, the agency said on Twitter.

Steve Bardy, executive director of the nonprofit organization, said rescuers arrived in time to safely evacuate all 25 dogs, who were in an area farther from the origin of the fire.

“It appears the fire started in the front building by the clinic, which made it more difficult for fire rescue to go into the adjacent cat room,” Bardy told reporters on the scene, his voice breaking at times.

“If you run a shelter, this is literally your worst nightmare — to see your building on fire and know that there are animals in there that you’re charged to care for and you can’t go in,” he said.

The blaze heavily damaged at least half of the building, which sits across a parking lot from Orange County Animal Services. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. No humans were reported injured.

The Pet Alliance has a second shelter in Sanford, where the dogs and five to 10 surviving cats were being transferred. Another 150 animals in the agency’s care — including the youngest kittens — currently live in foster homes, which kept the death toll from being higher.

According to a report by WFTV, about 19 cats have been rescued.

Bardy said he didn’t have an exact number of cats in the shelter at the time but that it may have been as many as 35. Ten were rescued, but some of them may not survive, he said.

He praised a quick response from Orange County firefighters and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which helped with evacuations.

“I’m grateful that the firefighters have, you know, put their lives at risk to … help save as many as they could,” he said. “I’m eternally grateful for that.”

©2021 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A fire in a fourth floor apartment at an Edgemere senior living apartment building injured four residents, including one who is in critical condition.

September 15, 2021 – By Rose Wagner – Source Baltimore Sun

A fire in a fourth floor apartment of a senior living apartment in Edgemere Wednesday morning injured four residents, including the occupant of the apartment who is in critical condition, according to Baltimore County Fire Department spokesman Tim Rostkowski.

The Baltimore County Fire Department got a call from a resident around 10:30 a.m., notifying them of a fire in their apartment at St. Luke’s Place, a Catholic Charities Senior Community, in the 2800 block of Lodge Farm Road, according Rostkowski.

The fire was contained to one apartment and sprinklers in the building controlled the fire, which was extinguished by 11 a.m.

The occupant of the apartment is in critical condition from burns and smoke inhalation. Three other people who lived on the fourth floor suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to Rostkowski.

Approximately a hundred building residents have been temporarily displaced due to water damage. Some residents will not be able to move back into their homes today and the Red Cross and Catholic Charities are working to find temporary housing for these residents, Rostkowski said.

Rostkowski said he did not believe the fire was a kitchen fire, but the cause is not yet known.

©2021 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.