Body Recovered from Debris of Dallas Seven-Alarm Fire

Firefighters found a body early Monday in the North Dallas condominiums destroyed by a fire this weekend.

The body was near the condo of an elderly woman reported missing, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue. The Dallas County medical examiner's office has yet to identify the remains.

Jacqueline McDonald, an 89-year-old woman with dementia, was reported missing Saturday after the seven-alarm fire at Preston Place condos in the 6200 block of West Northwest Highway.

Crews on Sunday were finally able to extinguish the fire that tore through condominiums and displaced about 100 residents.

"I'm just worried about if everybody got out," said Nancy Shipman, who lives nearby and was walking her dachshund, Blue, past the still-smoldering wreckage Saturday evening. "I started wondering, what would I do? What would I grab and try to take? I'd grab Blue."

McDonald was last seen shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday, when Dallas Fire-Rescue crews were called to the condos near Preston Road.

Late Friday, the residents of the complex, most of them elderly, calmly exited the building as the flames spread and firefighters' response escalated, Evans said.

By early Sunday afternoon, crews were working to extinguish hot spots in what remains of the 60- unit condominium complex. The fire was put out by 5 p.m.

"We remain concerned about the overall structural integrity of the building, " Evans said. "We continue to observe isolated collapses throughout the building and have our eyes on the possibility of others going forward."

One person was taken to a hospital with medical issues exacerbated by the fire and smoke but is expected to be OK, Evans said.

Lorrie Smith lives in a nearby apartment complex and could feel the heat of the fire through her walls "like a bonfire." She called the Red Cross to let them know about the residents she saw outside, many of them barefoot and in nightgowns.

"I didn't know anyone who lived there," she said. "You just pitch in as a neighbor."

Smith helped a family by bringing them into her apartment and giving them food, water and her boyfriend's T-shirt for their two young boys, clad only in superhero underwear. They asked to see pictures she had taken of the complex burning.

"They were saying, 'That's our house,' " Smith said.

One of the boys had a birthday earlier in the week, and Smith said he was sad thinking about the new light-up sneakers he lost in the flames. The other boy lost the money he was saving to buy a watch.

"I gave them some toys from my nieces, and they were playing and talking about school," Smith said.

Smith said many people didn't know the phone numbers of their loved ones or family members. That made Shirley Covington, who also lives nearby, think twice about being prepared.

"It's devastating," said Covington, who has lived in a nearby complex since 1975. "I thought about the small animals and people in their nightgowns barefoot."

Punctuating firefighters' efforts Saturday were isolated collapses throughout the structure.

"The more the building is subjected to, the more we have to confront the reality that there may not be anything salvageable left when it's all said and done," Evans said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and investigators will have limited access to the complex because of the damage.

Staff writer Julieta Chiquillo contributed to this report.

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