Trash fire destroys fourplex
Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 30 2009 05:40 AM
By Mason W. Canales
Killeen Daily HeraldHARKER HEIGHTS – Firefighters continued to extinguish hot spots Tuesday after an early-morning blaze displaced 12 people in the 200 block of West Cardinal Lane.
Residents in a fourplex all fled into the street at about 3:50 a.m. before firefighters and police arrived on the scene.
"I woke up and I just saw a big blaze in my back window," resident Jacqueline Hunter said. "I was just in a state of panic and shock because this was at three-something."
Hunter's son woke her up and warned her of the fire, allowing them to escape the blaze, she said. She then called 911, and the three other families living in the fourplex also came running out of the building.
"The main thing is that everyone got out all right ... the stuff can be replaced; people can't," Harker Heights Fire Chief Jack Collier said.
Those families were soon joined by residents at the other neighboring fourplexes, neighbor Tina Olden said.
"We heard some banging," Olden said about how she woke up that morning. "As soon as I opened my door, there was just white smoke. We walked out and you could see the flames already on the roof."
The police asked her to get outside because the fire could spread to her building, which was only about five feet away from the burning fourplex.
"It was pretty scary because you could see the flames touching our building," Olden said.
It was cold and the majority of the people were not prepared to be outside, but everybody was more concerned about the families who lived in the fourplex, Olden said.
"The cold isn't what bothered us," Olden said. "It is just sad that they had lived there a long time, and it is just after Christmas."
When firefighters arrived on the scene, heavy smoke and flames were showing from the building, Collier said. The building was already engulfed too much for an offensive inside attack, so a defensive exterior attack was made.
The Killeen Fire Department assisted in quelling the blaze, and it was under control in about an hour, Collier said.
While the official cause of the fire is still undetermined, the preliminary investigation has led investigators to believe that it started in a trash can behind the building, Collier said.
The fire then spread to leaves in the backyard and climbed up the walls of the fourplex until it entered the attic, causing it to spread through the upper levels faster, Collier said.
After the fire was extinguished, Hunter and her two children made several trips in and out of their burned home during the sleet and rain to collect as many belongings as possible.
"I just really need to get in here and salvage some things," Hunter said before carrying out some clothes and other belongings she collected during her 16-year stay in the building.
The owner of the building, former City Councilman Pat Christ, was also at the fourplex on Tuesday assessing damage with the insurance agents and the property manager.
"I was very pleased that nobody was hurt," Christ said. "The fire woke up everyone, and they all made it out."
Even though the American Red Cross is currently helping the families with lodging, Christ was looking for places for the residents to stay until the building can be repaired, he said.
Christ wasn't sure if the building could be repaired, or if it had to be completely rebuilt, he said.
"It probably can be rebuilt," Christ said optimistically.
Contact Mason W. Canales at
mcanales@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7554.