Fire-rescue personnel braved hot weather and blistering flames Thursday and Friday as they battled two fires at apartment complexes in northeast Dallas.
No one was hurt early Friday when a fire started in a downstairs unit at an apartment complex in the 9600 block of Forest Lane, but a dozen families were displaced.
Lt. Jesse Garcia, a spokesman for Dallas Fire-Rescue, said fire crews were summoned to the three-alarm blaze about 8:20 a.m. at the Forestwood on the Creek Apartments.
The fire apparently went unnoticed until a passing motorist and some residents at the complex saw the flames and smoke.
Garcia said that about 50 firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour- and a-half until they brought it under control at 9:42 a.m.
"Of the 12 units in the apartment building, only four were actually damaged by fire," Garcia said. "The other eight were damaged by smoke or water."
He said investigators were still at the complex Friday afternoon trying to determine what caused the fire.
On Thursday, a child playing with a cigarette lighter caused a three-alarm blaze about 5:40 p.m. at the Buckner Court Apartments in the 2700 block of Buckner Boulevard.
Lt. Joel Lavender, also a Fire-Rescue spokesman, said the fire quickly went to four alarms, which drew 100 firefighters. It took them nearly an hour to control the fire.
Lavender said one woman was treated for a minor burn, but no one else was hurt.
Marty Nerren, a spokesman for the American Red Cross in Dallas, said Friday that the agency provided assistance for families displace by both fires.
He said the fire on Buckner heavily damaged eight units, but only four families required services, which included food, clothing and medications. He said none of them needed housing assistance because the apartment managers offered to move them into vacant units at the complexes.
Nerren said that 10 of the 12 displaced families at the Forest Lane fire sought help from the agency.
Also Friday, Fire-Rescue personnel were trying to save a 1-year-old girl who fell into a pool about 3:55 p.m. at the Skyline Apartments in the 8100 block of Scyene Circle. The neighborhood is in the Pleasant Grove area of southeast Dallas.
Garcia said a bystander at the pool performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her until paramedics arrived. He said the child was rushed to Children's Medical Center, where she was in critical condition late Friday.
