HOUSTON --
More than a dozen families are out of their homes after a three alarm fire in the Galleria area.
The fire broke out just before 11:00 p.m. Saturday night at the Woods on Augusta complex.
Dozens of residents waited outside as firefighters spent three hours battling the flames.
Firefighters said the complex has no fire walls and the units share a common attic, which caused the flames to spread quickly.
"The roof on this whole building is essentially gone," said Houston Fire Department District Chief Tommy Dowdy. "Once it got up into the attic they were unable to get in front of it and keep it in check."
Woods on Augusta is made up of older condos so they were not required to have firewalls in the common attic space.
Fire officials said the preliminary cause was a grill that a resident was using to cook with on his patio.
One resident who lost everything says she first looked out and saw flames coming from her neighbor's patio.
"I ran in and got my dog and my purse", said resident Kyla Martin. "When I was coming out the firemen came in and stormed through mine to check the walls to see if it was hot and they just told me to get out now and I said 'Do I have time to get anything' and they said 'No, get out.'"
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