A two alarm fire started at the Copper Mill Apartments in Northwest Houston (Hwy 6 & Hwy 529) around 6:30 Monday night. The fire took over the building in just a few minutes and spread to the entire block of apartments.
After battling the blaze for about 10 minutes the Incident Commander made a safety decision to go defensive on the fire and add another alarm to the call.
A few minutes after the second box alarm Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department had on scene a total of: 7 Pumpers, 2 Aerials, 1 Rescue Truck, 2 Ambulances and the department Re-Hab truck. This gave the needed support of 50+ firefighters and other staff personnel to help get the fire under control.
With the help of the Harris County Sheriff's office on scene, officers and firefighters began going door to door to evacuate nearby tenets.
The fire department had no problems getting water on the fire but did have to use most of their supply hose, because the two closest fire hydrants were about 600 and 800 feet away.
The fire which destroyed about 24 units in the complex left more 20 families homeless. The families were being helped by the fire departments Public Relations Department and the Management of the apartment complex.
There were three civilian medical emergencies that were transported to local area hospitals and two firefighters who received (minor) injuries. One of the two firefighters was trapped in the apartment until he was helped out of the apartment by his Captain.
The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office has ruled this fire as arson with estimated fire damage around $1,000,000.
