Fort Worth Apartment Fire Displaces Residents and Injures Firefighter

A massive three-alarm fire destroyed a two-story apartment building in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday morning, injuring one firefighter and leaving dozens of residents seeking emergency shelter.

Emergency crews responded to the blaze in the 6700 block of Calmont Avenue near Interstate 30 and Green Oaks Boulevard around 6 a.m. Flames quickly engulfed the structure before spreading to an adjacent building.

The Fort Worth Fire Department deployed dozens of firefighters to battle the inferno. One firefighter was hospitalized for smoke inhalation but has since returned to duty, while emergency medical personnel treated four residents at the scene for smoke inhalation, transporting two to a local hospital for further care.

Initial assessments estimated that up to 100 people were displaced across roughly 50 damaged units. The American Red Cross Greater North Texas Region later revised the assistance figure, stating it is actively aiding up to 50 residents with emergency food, water, toiletries, and supplies, while Trinity Metro buses provided transportation to an evacuation center at the R.D. Evans Community Center.

Multiple residents expressed concerns that high summer temperatures and overwhelmed cooling units contributed to an electrical issue preceding the blaze.

"A lot of pain. Our faith and hope has been destroyed today. Our only material things we have can be replaced," said Billy Johnson, a complex resident.

Johnson noted that smaller air conditioning units provided to tenants operated constantly in the summer heat.

"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," Johnson said.

Another impacted resident echoed the sudden loss suffered by families in the building.

"It’s just crazy because everybody just lost everything," added another resident. "And we just moved in two weeks ago so we just lost everything. We literally just put all of our eggs in this basket."

Displaced resident Guadalupe Jamarillo recalled observing warning signs in her unit prior to the incident.

"They kept saying, ‘it’s getting fixed, getting fixed'. But nothing," Jamarillo said. "This weekend, Friday, you'd turn on the lights in the restroom, and you'd smell something like a short circuit."

Resident David Harden, who managed to escape safely alongside his wife and children, focused on his family's safety amidst the property destruction.

"Really, there’s no words for it. It’s a lot of things lost in the fire. A lot of things gotta be replaced.

Long as we got out OK, everything is alright," said resident David Harden, who escaped with his wife and children. "Everything can replaced, in time. Everything else is materialistic.

Things can be put back together."

Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek explained that fire crews remained on site working to contain remaining hotspots and secure the structural remnants.

"Sometimes you’ll see that dark smoke come back a little bit. We’re trying to figure out in some of these areas if there may be a double roof. And so we’re still working on all of that right now," said Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department.

Trojacek also detailed the purpose of the established community shelter for affected families.

"It gives these residents a chance to get out of the smoke, get out of the heat, kind of get their bearings about them. As you can imagine, being woken up in the middle of the night and you potentially lost everything. Your emotions are high.

Your adrenaline's going. So this is kind of a safe place for those individuals to go, work with the Red Cross, work with property managers that are going to be here on scene and figure out the next steps. Are there units available for them to move into?

Where do I get my next meal? So all that different kind of stuff, those answers, will be at that location," Fort Worth Public Information Officer Craig Trojacek said.

Investigators are continuing their work to determine the official cause of the blaze once the site is fully secured.