HOUSTON – One man is being called a hero after saving his neighbor's three children when a 2-alarm fire broke out at an apartment complex in southwest Houston.
The fire began just after 3 a.m. Wednesday at the Plaza Azul Apartments at 12600 Brookglade Circle near Dairy Ashford Road.
"All you could see were these big orange flames flying everywhere," said Tarnicsha Evans, a resident at the Plaza Azul Apartments.
Neighbors rushed out to see flames, then one man heard a woman screaming that her children were trapped inside.
"A lady was yelling 'My kids! My kids!'," said Howard Soularie, who described seeing everyone standing outside, watching the complex burn. "I put on my clothes, went over there, and went inside and got the kids," said Soularie.
"I busted the patio window and grabbed the first girl. She was standing by the door [...] The fire was by the bed, where the two other babies were, and I grabbed them too and brought them back outside," said Soularie.
Once fire crews arrived, they began dousing the flames. The fire became so intense that the Houston Fire Department was forced to call another unit to the scene.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the fire.
Firefighters spent several hours working to put out the fire and keeping an eye on hot spots in the building.