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One person is dead after an early morning fire at a north Harris County apartment complex, officials say.
According to the Ponderosa Fire Department, the fire was reported around 4:45 a.m. Thursday at 505 Cypress Station Drive.
Flames rise from an apartment building on Cypress Station Drive.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy fire coming from one of the buildings. Ponderosa Fire Chief Fred Windisch said a hip roof that had been built over an older flat roof posed an initial challenge to firefighters.
"What that effectively does, it hinders our attack to where we literally have to wait until the built-up roof fails, and then it goes into the attic. So we can only do so much during that initial time period, and the fire continues to grow. We’ve encountered this several times over the past few years," he says.
Firefighters from several neighboring fire departments came out to help. Around 7 a.m., the fire chief said some crews were still inside the building putting out some fires and hotspots.
The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said as crews continued to search the scene, they found one person dead.
The fire chief said about 14 units were in the building that was damaged by the fire. The American Red Cross was responding to the complex to help displaced residents.
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office says the cause and origin of the fire is under investigation.