More than 100 homeless after Raging Texas fire
Pastor Dale Morgan
More than 100 homeless after Raging Texas fire*
HOUSTON (AP) — An electrical problem caused a massive fire at a
Houston-area apartment that left more than 100 people homeless,
investigators from the Harris County Fire Marshall's Office said Saturday.
The five-alarm blaze Friday began in or around Unit 71 in the west end
of the complex, officials told the Houston Chronicle.
It took firefighters about five hours to extinguish the blaze, which
destroyed 92 units at the South Grand Apartments in Channelview,
according to Michael Battise, chief of the Cloverleaf Volunteer Fire
Department. Cloverleaf was one of nine departments helping the
Channelview fire volunteers.
No injuries were reported, said Sgt. D.M. Mackey of the Harris County
Sheriff's Office.
Battise said firefighters had access to only a 6-inch water main
supplying about 11 pounds per square inch of pressure. In the district
covered by the Cloverleaf volunteers, he said, all water mains are 8 to
10 inches and supply pressure of anywhere from 25 to 55 pounds per
square inch.
Because of the unavailability of a bigger water main, seven tanker
trucks were brought in, Battise said.
The complex, which was built in 1968, consists of several two-story
buildings arranged around a large central courtyard.
"All the photos, all the memories were gone. I had photographs going to
1900 of my great-grandma and grandma," Steve Pharas said.