Safety concerns forced firefighters to delay their secondary search of a high-rise office building after a four-alarm fire claimed three lives, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.
The fire started at the building at 9343 North Loop East at Gellhorn at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Videos:Search Of 4-Alarm High Rise Fire Building DelayedTrapped Worker Describes Fire TerrorFirefighters To Resume Search Of Building After Fire3 Remain Hospitalized After Deadly FireFirefighters Risk Lives To Save LivesEmployees Escape 4-Alarm InfernoFirefighters, Civilians Injured In Blaze3 Die In Office Building FireDrivers, Witnesses Terrified By Massive Fire
Investigators had to wait to look for more victims until the building is deemed safe. The intense heat may have warped the building's steel beams.
"We're not going to feel warm and fuzzy about this 'til we've looked," District Chief Tommy Dowdy said. "It's part of what we do. If you listen to the radio you hear primary then you'll here secondary. We're not done. We haven't done that yet."
Crews found three bodies on the fifth floor during their initial search. The Harris County Medical Examiner's office officials said Shana Ellis, 38, Jeanette Hargrove, 52, and Marvin Wells, 46, perished in the fire.
Firefighters used a ladder to rescue several other people from the inferno.
Flames shot out of the top floors of the six-story building and the roof while thick black smoke filled the sky and forced traffic on the North Loop to come to a standstill.
The inferno raged through the building for more than an hour. Officials called for four alarms because they needed extra manpower to battle the intense heat and flames.
Part of the building collapsed just after 10 p.m. Firefighters were at the building all night to put out any hot spots that popped up and secure the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Officials said it started in a medical supply office on the fifth floor of the building.
The building was built in the early 1980s and has more than 62,000 square feet of office space.
Many Employees Did Not Know About Fire
Many employees inside the building said they did not know what was happening because they did not hear any alarms.
"Someone ran into the building and told us it was on fire," one employee said. "They could see fire coming from the side of the building."
Gloria Castillo was outside the building when she ran in to alert everyone inside.
"I saw flames inside the building," Castillo said. "I went into the building screaming 'fire.' Nobody knew the building was on fire."
People trapped inside were able to call for help because the phone lines were working.
"We had several phone calls from people to dispatch telling us they were on different floors in their offices, trapped," Dowdy said.
Dawn Herring worked in an office on the fourth floor of the building. She said she realized something was wrong when she smelled smoke and heard people screaming.
"There were no sprinkler alarms," Herring said. "Once we went out in the hallway, there may have been a very light fire alarm, a small buzz. We didn't hear anything in the office."
The Houston Fire Department's chief inspector said the building was grandfathered in when stronger building codes went into effect and that things may have been different if a better smoke and sprinkler system had been in place.
"This building would be a much different situation than a building that would be built today," Perry Schindewolf said. "It just had partial sprinklers. When this building was built, there was no fire alarm system required to be put in it. Evidently, they put in some partial fire alarm system, meaning some manual pull stations.
Firefighters, Civilians Injured
Several firefighters and people inside the building when the fire broke out suffered injuries.
Five firefighters and three civilians were rushed to hospitals for treatment.
Captains Joel Eric Abdt and Stephen Langford remained hospitalized in fair condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital on Thursday. One fell off a ladder and the other was badly bruised.
Yogeshv Bali, 47, was listed in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital with smoke inhalation.
Three firefighters and two civilians were treated and released.
