The Red Cross is working with 20 tenants at an apartment complex who were forced from their home by a fire Thursday morning. The fire started about 6 a.m. at "Horizons at Sunridge" on Meadowbrook Blvd., near Eastchase and I-30.
One tenant says he was walking his dog when he smelled smoke and burning plastic.
"I could smell it. Once I got around the building, I could see the smoke. I couldn't tell where it was coming from at first," he says. "I started going around, knocking on doors, making sure everybody was out of the building."
The first firefighters to arrive saw flames coming from both the first and second floors of the building. They called a second alarm.
"They were able to begin an interior attack. The fire had made progress into the attic," says the Fort Worth Fire Department's Mike Drivdahl.
Drivdahl says the fire was controlled within half an hour, but crews remained at the scene for about three hours to ensure no hot spots could spark a new fire.
"We definitely don't want to leave until everything is completely secure, and we know everything's out," he says. "Especially with the way the winds are blowing, any type of fire or ember with these winds would definitely cause issues."
A dozen apartments were damaged or destroyed. No tenants or firefighters were hurt.
Drivdahl says investigators are now searching for the cause.