Woman, children trapped in burning home set by ex escaped after neighbor noticed flames
A woman and two children trapped inside a burning were awakened by a worried neighbor who noticed a blaze coming from the front door on Saturday morning.
The neighbor noticed the house fire, in the 3700 block of Hulen Park Circle, at around 4:30 a.m. Inside, a 38-year-old woman and two children were asleep.
After banging on the house and yelling, the neighbor was able to wake up the occupants, who then made it safely outside, fire officials say.
The fire was set by the 38-year-old woman’s ex-boyfriend, according to Mike Drivdahl, a spokesman and engineer with the Fort Worth Fire Department.
Courtney Eugene Smith, 39, is charged with two counts of arson, three counts of obstruction/retaliation and one count of interfering with an emergency call.
His bond, which was originally set at $195,000 on Sunday, was increased to $245,000 on Monday, according to records.
Drivdahl said Smith used a “flammable chemical” to set fires to the woman’s car, and the front and back doors of the house.
“There was enough fire that the passer-by was extremely concerned about the family inside the home,” Drivdahl said.
Neither child inside the home is related to Smith. They are family members of the woman, but not her children, officials said.
The day before the fire happened, Drivdahl said Smith and the woman were involved in some sort of domestic incident. He referred questions about what happened that Friday to the Fort Worth Police Department, who told a reporter to submit an open records request for information about the incident.
No report for the Friday incident was found online, but police were sent to the same address on July 12 in response to a complaint of harassment.
Anyone with any information should call the Fort Worth Fire Department’s arson investigators at 817-392-6850.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Woman, children trapped in burning home set by ex escaped after neighbor noticed flames."