HOUSTON — One person was killed after a massive fire spread through an apartment complex in west Houston Friday night.
The fire happened at the Villas Del Paseo apartments on Elmside Drive near Westheimer and S Gessner Road.
A neighbor told KHOU 11 that a man who lived alone was found dead after the fire was extinguished.
"He was not really able physically to come out of the house," Jessica Bush said. “I been crying all night. For a man to lose his life because he couldn’t get out, that’s…yeah yall, it’s a lot, it’s real heavy.”
Bush was one of several people who were displaced after the fire. She lived just feet away from where the fire started.
"No we couldn’t stay," she said. "They didn’t want us in the apartment at all.”
Residents said there has been a history of reported electrical issues, but it's unknown if that's what started the fire.
"A lot of electrical in our apartment," Bush said. "We couldn’t like turn a space heater on and the microwave on. It would shut the electricity off in like one part of the house.”
While families try to salvage what remains, Bush said things are getting better, despite this tragic setback.
"The new management we have now has really been on top of it," she said.
The Red Cross is assisting those who lost everything, while the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office investigates.
Meanwhile, neighbors like Bush have been placed in other units on the property until being given the all-clear to move back in.