CENTRAL TEXAS FIRES Hundreds may have lost homes in apartment fire

Most of the residents displaced Thursday when a fire burned 68 apartments at the International Residences in North Austin had found a place to stay by Friday night, with dozens of families having received assistance from the American Red Cross of Central Texas, officials said Friday.

At least 200 people had registered as needing assistance from the American Red Cross of Central Texas by Friday evening, Red Cross spokeswoman Sara Kennedy said.

Only two families — about 16 people — were expected to stay at a shelter at the North- west Fellowship Church at 13427 Pond Springs Road on Friday night, she said. Those families were planning to move into new apartments Saturday, she said.

“A lot of folks were able to go home last night, and folks who weren’t have been really successfully placed in new apartments,” she said. In all, the Red Cross provided assistance to about 60 families, she said.

Officials on Friday still did not have a count of how many people were displaced by the fire but said hundreds were expected to have lost their homes in the blazes.