One person was killed and six others were injured in an overnight fire that tore through an apartment building in the Cypress area of Harris County early Monday, fire officials said. Crews from the Klein Fire Department were called to the Cypress Wood apartment complex at about 1:30 a.m. and arrived to find heavy fire conditions already consuming the structure as residents scrambled to get out.
Lieutenant Matthew Baker of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said firefighters immediately began working to knock down the flames as displaced residents streamed out of the building. Several people were hurt, and emergency medical crews moved in to begin treating and transporting the injured while the fire was still being fought in the darkness.
In all, officials said 13 people were hurt in addition to the one person who died. Seven of them were treated at the scene for minor injuries, while six others were taken to the hospital, and at least one of the injured was flown out by medical helicopter, an indication of the severity of what some people suffered in the blaze before they could be pulled to safety.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office identified the person who died as 40-year-old Andrew Atwater, who was taken from the scene and pronounced dead at a local hospital, and said his mother suffered serious injuries. Among the most gravely hurt was a 3-year-old boy, who relatives said was at home with his family when the fire broke out and suffered burns across roughly 95 percent of his body. He faces surgery and is expected to remain hospitalized for months, and his father, who tried to rush him out of the burning building, was also hospitalized with burns.
Relatives said the boy's mother and two other children managed to escape safely after an aunt smelled the smoke and woke the family in the middle of the night. A fundraiser has been set up to help the family, who lost everything in the fire, one of many households displaced by a blaze that tore through the building as most residents slept.
The fire was concentrated in a single building at 4607 Cypress Wood that contained eight units, and roughly 25 people were left displaced by the blaze. Investigators determined it had been set deliberately, and authorities said the man accused of starting it was Matthew, a brother of Andrew Atwater, who they said set the blaze out of anger during a dispute involving family members. He has been charged with felony murder and arson, remains in the Harris County Jail, and authorities said additional charges are possible.
Officials singled out the actions of Harris County sheriff's deputies for praise. The deputies had been responding to a separate call nearby when they spotted the smoke, rerouted themselves to the complex and jumped into action, knocking on doors and pulling residents out of harm's way before the fire could reach them.
Fire Marshal's Office spokesperson Brandi Dumas said the deputies also rallied other civilians who had come outside to help, and together they worked to evacuate not only the building that was burning but the neighboring buildings as well. Authorities said the quick, coordinated response likely helped keep an already deadly fire from claiming even more lives in the crowded complex.