AUSTIN, Texas — A fire in North Austin that injured three people and left 30 residents unable to return home on Tuesday morning is now being investigated as arson.
The Austin Fire Department (AFD) responded to the fire at an apartment complex at 502 W. Longspur Blvd. around 5:38 a.m.
Crews arriving on the scene found fire on two balconies and one stairwell of one of the buildings, AFD said.
“After processing the scene and conducting interviews, AFD investigators determined that the cause or the fire was intentionally set and are investigating this as an act of arson,” the department said in an update on Wednesday.
Three people were injured in the fire, including two who were taken to local hospitals, with one of those victims in critical condition. Around 30 residents were unable to return home after the fire.
"[Firefighters] saw the residents, and they heard the residents yelling at them from the [busted] window," AFD Division Chief Mark Bridges told KVUE on Tuesday. "And so, they threw a ladder, an extension ladder, to the third-floor window, crawled up there and rescued both of the residents and got them to safety and got them over to EMS for treatment and transport."
One of the displaced residents is Selena Perez's uncle. She said he called her to tell her about the fire, and when she arrived, she saw the flames.
"The fire was going around. It was spreading around to over here, already over there too. A lot of people were evacuated, almost falling down," Perez said. "We hard somebody scream, like saying for help. Right when I heard the scream, I went running over here because my Uncle Victor was there too."
AFD said the fire caused around $1 million in damage and $200,000 in contents damage.