18 residents of Grapevine townhome complex displaced after escaping fire, chief says
Residents of interconnected townhomes in Grapevine frantically abandoned their residences a little before 3 a.m. Friday as orange flames enveloped the structure. They banged on each other’s doors to make sure everyone was awake and aware, according to Fire Chief Darrell Brown.
The 18 residents of the four townhomes were able to escape the blaze unharmed, even though most people had been sleeping, he said. But the group of tenants, which includes families, were displaced.
The two-story structure, Brown said, is “a total loss.”
Grapevine firefighters were dispatched to a fire in a group of townhomes in the 1900 block of Shorewood Drive around 2:40 a.m., Brown said. The fire started on the back patio of one of the units, extending to the first floor, and then upward toward the second floor and the shared attic space above that, he said.
Firefighters went through the building to make sure no one was still inside, he said, and began to attack the fire from the inside. Flames were growing so quickly, however, firefighters focused on battling the blaze from outside with hoses, including utilizing cranes to spray down onto the building.
Around 40 firefighters battled the fire for around 45 minutes until it was under control, Brown said.
“It’s just a sad situation for those families,” he said. “There wasn’t any fire protection, meaning sprinkler systems or anything like that. It’s been there for a number of years.”
Crews, Brown said, did a good job of making sure all residents were safely out of the building, as well as containing the fire to the one building.
The Grapevine Fire Marshal’s Office was on-scene Friday morning investigating how the fire started but had yet to determine a cause as of the afternoon. “It looks like it’s accidental,” Brown said.
The Grapevine Fire Department sent out a second alarm on the fire Friday morning, which brought additional Southlake firefighters to the scene. Crews remained on-scene for hours through the morning monitoring for hot spots and assisting in the investigation.
