Woman who installed smoke detectors while trying to adopt child escapes massive fire

Back half of newly renovated home destroyed

HOUSTON – A massive fire destroyed roughly half of a newly renovated home in north Houston. 

The fire broke out at 11:30 p.m. Thursday night on Tarberry and De Priest. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the large addition in the back of the home. 

A woman and her mother inside the home was able to escape because the smoke detectors went off. The woman said she had recently installed the smoke detectors because she is trying to adopt a child and it's part of the approval process.

The woman told KPRC, "I’m very grateful, but still in disbelief. We did lose everything. So pretty saddened by it. I’ve actually been in the process of trying to adopt a 12-year-old girl in CPS care and one of the requirements is for the home to be safe and so we had to install seven fire alarms, a fire extinguisher and a fire escape plan and that was just two days ago and so we didn’t have anything, so if it wasn’t for that, we would not have heard any type of alarm go off. We’re very grateful because if it wasn’t for God and those smoke alarms it would not have happened that well for us."

They managed to get their two dogs out safely, but one cat died in the fire. Another cat is still missing.

Nobody was injured in the fire.

If you would like to help the woman and her family recover from the fire, a GoFundMe account is now set up to assist in the effort.

Arson investigators are now trying to figure out the cause of the fire.

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