16 units damaged in Houston apartment fire, displaced families searching for new place to live

HOUSTON - More than a dozen families are now displaced from their homes after a two-alarm fire destroyed a southwest Houston apartment building Monday morning.

It happened at the Woodtrail Apartments on the 9900 block of Richmond Avenue around 7:40 a.m.  

Houston fire investigators said 16 units were damaged in the blaze by smoke and water.

Authorities said the fire started in an upstairs unit and spread rapidly through the building's attic.

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More than a dozen families are now scrambling to find a new place to live and salvage what’s left of their homes.  

"It’s really hard. It's really hard, you know. You work so hard for things, and then things just happen like this," said Yamileth Coto.

Coto said she heard someone banging on her window early Monday morning.

"I heard knocks like right here in the front, so then that's when everybody started coming out, and there was already smoke over here. If it wasn’t for that guy, he lives somewhere over here, I wouldn’t be out here," Coto said.

Coto, her husband, and their two young kids had just moved in a month ago.

"There’s not much that we can save; clothes, toys, pack of water, that’s all we got," said Carlos Dionicio.

"I work hard. I work hard just to live good, live clean, live nice, and I finally feel like I was very happy. I’m sad, I’m very sad," said Nestoi Vasquez.

According to Houston Fire Department Chief Sam Pena, the fire started cause of an electrical issue involving a power strip.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported in this incident.