Fast-moving blaze kills 3 in Crosby apartments
Complex undergoing 'major rehabilitation' had several smaller blazes in recent months
Laneita Brewer awoke to chaos in her Crosby apartment building early Saturday as residents fled their units, shouting warnings of a fire that had engulfed part of the complex.
She corralled her cat and beat on her neighbor’s door, knowing that the disabled man would need assistance evacuating. She helped him to safety and watched as flames consumed the building next to hers at the Crosby Square Apartments, sending plumes of acrid smoke high above the burning roof.
Nine fire departments battled the fast-moving blaze, which killed three people and displaced 85 others in a pre-dawn emergency in northeast Harris County. By midmorning, the modest building in the 15000 block of FM 2100 had become a smoldering ruin.
Teresa Boykin, a Crosby resident, stopped for gas at the Chevron station across the street just after 6 a.m. Her 20-year-old son noticed the smoke and went inside the convenience store to ask someone to call for help.
“It went so fast: From smoke to fire, just like that,” she said.
“I was so afraid of people being inside so early in the morning like that.”
Flames were already shooting through the roof when Crosby Volunteer Fire Department crews arrived around 6:15 a.m., said Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Residents described panic and terror as crews arrived with orders for a complete evacuation of the complex that sent them scrambling to alert neighbors. Jennifer Dominguez and her husband awoke to incessant knocking on the door to their apartment, located in a building untouched by the fire.
“When we got out, the fire was really bad,” she said. “The flames were really high, and there was so much smoke.”
Most residents fled to Crosby Middle School, but three hadn’t been located after the evacuation. Family and friends formed a worried knot outside the complex, waiting for hours for news of their whereabouts.
They cried and embraced upon learning that their bodies had been found inside. The residents, a 14-year-old boy, a 20-year-old woman and a woman in her 30s, had been living in the complex for more than two years, said Angelica Parker, a relative.
The news of their deaths moved other residents to tears as they lingered outside.
Brewer, whose unit was in a second building damaged in the fire, recalled the woman in her 30s as a kind neighbor who had recently gotten married. She lived with her daughter, the 20-year-old woman.
“It’s just so tragic,” she said. “She was just a happy person all the time.”
The apartment complex, managed by a company called Blue Abby, is a cluster of low-rise buildings constructed in the 1980s, according to county records. Blue Abby’s website says the units are undergoing “major rehabilitation.”
Residents said improvements are long overdue. Several people recalled smaller fires in recent months, as well as other maintenance issues.
Brewer, who has lived in the complex for four years with her two adult daughters, said she has dealt with a leaky roof and a bee infestation that required the removal of two walls. The air conditioning unit caught on fire several months ago, she said, forcing the three woman to evacuate. Christina Smith, owner of Dun-it Freight in Crosby, said Brewer is among five of her employees who have lived at the complex in recent years. The other four have since moved out. One, she said, left after a fire broke out in his apartment as crews did rehabilitation work.
“These apartments need to be condemned,” she said.
The manager of the complex, who was at the fire, declined to comment.
The fire was the second in recent months to destroy part of a Crosby apartment complex. Crosby Plaza Apartments, located about 1 ½ miles away, sustained serious damage during a blaze in March.
Crosby ISD is working with the Red Cross to assist residents displaced by Saturday’s fire. Donations can be delivered to the Churches United in Caring at 944 Church Street.
Brewer waited for permission from crews to assess the damage to her apartment. She was relieved to learn the flames spared her bedroom, where she keeps several valuables inherited from family members who recently died.
Asked where she would go next, she shook her head and shrugged.
“A lot of us don’t know,” she said.