AUSTIN, Texas — A woman has been arrested after an early-morning fire at a duplex in East Austin was ruled as arson, according to Austin fire officials.
The woman had been staying with the family before being asked to leave by the residents before the fire occurred on Sunday morning, according to police.
Fire officials said the fire left two people with first- and second-degree burn injuries and two families displaced.
Austin fire tweeted about the incident just after 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and said they were working to finally extinguish the fire.
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AFD officials said the fire occurred in the 6900 block of Aries Lane and impacted both sides of the duplex.
Olga Guzman Calderon, understood to be a sister of one of the residents, was booked into jail on a first-degree arson charge, a first-degree felony.
Police said Calderon was staying with the residents last month and was allowed to sleep on a sofa within the carport area but, on Sunday morning, a dispute led the residents to ask Calderon to leave.
According to police, Calderon became enraged and allegedly made threats toward the residents before leaving.
Less than an hour later, one of the children in the home said Calderon had returned and set the duplex on fire, according to the affidavit.
A resident of the duplex who woke up from the heat reportedly alerted neighbors to the fire, helping them escape. Seven people were home at the time.
Seven fire trucks and 30 firefighters were on the scene and had the fire under control within five minutes. The blaze resulted in a total loss of the duplex and also destroyed a car and damaged another. A family pet guinea pig was also lost in the fire.
Austin fire said four adults and five children were a part of the two families displaced by the fire on Sunday morning and the American Red Cross of Central Texas has responded to assist them.
Dulce Guzman was one of the residents at the duplex and said her home held a lot of memories.
"Everybody really enjoyed coming to this house just to hang out," said Guzman. "On a Sunday, my mom would always cook ... and then we would all go sit down and eat and just have fun and talk about anything."
She said what woke her up on Sunday morning was horrifying.
"It was just fire against the wall everywhere," said Guzman.
The families are just hoping they can recover from this soon.
"So it has a lot of memories – everything was gone," said Guzman.
The investigation is ongoing.
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