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Firefighters investigate apartment complex fire
Posted: 09.05.2011 at 6:22 PM
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It's a fire that forced more than 100 people out of their own homes and many to jump from their balconies to save their lives.

The fire started around 5 Sunday morning leaving many of the people living in the apartment complex on the 12 hundred block of East Dallas Avenue homeless.

Firefighters said the fire engulfed much of the complex in a matter of minutes leaving many tenants to jump out of second floor windows and balconies to survive.

Over a dozen were injured in the fire, but luckily everyone escaped.

"We had one firefighter that was transported to the hospital for severe dehydration and we had 12 people transported to local hospitals ranging from smoke inhalation to minor burns to broken legs from jumping from the balconies," said McAllen fire captain Michael Hernandez.

Captain Hernandez said the injured firefighter is still in the hospital but is doing well and the tenant who suffered a fracture is also still in the hospital but expected to be okay.

Firefighters said they'll continue looking through debris searching for clues to determine what caused the fire.

The owner of the property told us one of her tenants was being investigated, but investigators could only confirm that they are questioning every tenant.

Firefighters did tell us that the apartment complex should have had fire extinguishers and smoke alarms, but the it's the tenant's responsibility to maintain them.

Firefighters said they are looking into the fire inspection report to see if there were any violations found and if they were corrected.

Red Cross is paying for tenants to stay at the Knights Inn in Pharr, but only until Wednesday.

Call the American Red Cross to see how you can help the tenants: (956) 787-7851

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