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5 adults, 5 children escape early-morning blaze in Bryan
Eagle photo by Dave McDermand
Firefighters work to put out any hot spots that may have remained after a fire gutted an apartment building early Tuesday morning in Bryan.
By JANET PHELPS
Ten people -- half of whom were children -- escaped from an early Tuesday morning fire at a Bryan fourplex.
Twenty-eight firefighters from Bryan and College Station fought the blaze for more than four hours before it was extinguished around 9:30 a.m., officials said.
The fire began just after 5 a.m. on an upstairs balcony at 2007 Monito Way. Officials said they had no reason to believe it was caused by a barbecue pit and weren't sure late Tuesday what started the blaze.
Bryan Fire Marshal Investigator Lt. William Bouse said a 34-year-old woman and her 16-year-old daughter jumped from a second floor window to escape the flames.
The mother, whose ankle was injured in the fall, was treated and released from College Station Medical Center.
No one else was injured, although a dog was found dead in a bathroom, Bouse said.
"We've done a preliminary investigation. We've taken samples that we'll be sending off to the lab. We're awaiting the results," he said. "We've taken preliminary statements from witnesses."
Local American Red Cross Branch Manager Curt Sterner said the agency went to the scene of the fire to provide the families who occupied three of the four units with clothes and groceries. Officials said one unit was unoccupied.
The Red Cross also provided a place for the five adults, one teenager and four children displaced by the fire to stay for the next three days. After that, Sterner said, the landlord of the Monito Way property will find alternative housing for the families.
Two Bryan fire engines and one from College Station, along with at least one medical team, responded to the fire. Bouse said both cities were involved because the location was near their juncture.
The fire spread from the balcony to the attic of the building, officials said. The roof was severely damaged by the fire, and the rest of the building was "completely water-damaged," officials said.
