Police have an arson suspect in custody after an overnight fire at a Plano apartment complex sent one person to the hospital and left 10 units uninhabitable early Wednesday.
The fire broke out around midnight at the Villas at Chase Oaks apartments, off Legacy Drive just west of Central Expressway, FOX 4 reported, citing police and fire officials.
Balcony rescue and roof collapse
First responders rescued a man from a second-floor balcony after residents heard him calling for help. Paramedics took one person to a hospital with minor injuries.
Timothy Howard, a first-floor resident, described watching firefighters reach the man as he escaped the building.
“As I was jumping, they had to get the ladder, and there was an older man on top of me,” Howard told the station. “And he was like, ‘help, help!’ So they got the ladder. Thank God for these guys, these firefighters out here.”
The roof collapsed onto firefighters during the response, but none of the firefighters suffered injuries, officials said.
10 apartments uninhabitable
The damage left residents of 10 apartments unable to return home. Apartment management and the Red Cross were helping displaced residents arrange temporary housing.
Officials had not confirmed how many people the fire displaced in the initial report.
Investigators believed someone deliberately started the blaze, fire officials said. The initial report did not detail how the fire began or the evidence behind that assessment.
Travon Tamar Andrews, 27, faces two arson charges, CBS News Texas reported.
