Suspicious vacant house fire spreads, damages 3 homes in The Colony
THE COLONY, Texas - A fire that investigators are calling "suspicious" damaged three homes overnight in The Colony in Denton County.
The five-alarm fire began in a vacant home on Gibson Drive around 2 a.m. Monday.
Firefighters arrived as the flames were already spreading to a second home and later to a detached garage at a third home.
"Around 1 in the morning someone was knocking on our door really hard, I came out, parents came out, saw the house on fire," said 13-year-old Sebastian.
He says he is thankful a neighbor woke his family up in case the fire continued to spread.
"People who live there came out with their dogs, sorry for them about what happened," said Sebastian.
A total of four people lived in the other homes. They made it out safely and were not hurt.
The Colony Fire Department's chief said one of his firefighters suffered minor injuries while battling the blaze.
Firefighters from Plano, Carrollton, Lewisville, Frisco, and Little Elm were called in to help because of the size of the fire and the heat.
"We’re at a fourth alarm and I would say at least one of those is because of the extreme heat. We’re going to make sure we give our people frequent rotations. Get them water, get them some rest," said Chief Scott Thompson.
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It took three hours for the crews to get the fire out.
SKY 4 was on scene just hours later showing the extent of the damage with demolition already underway on one of the homes.
"Got it under control, got it contained now just hitting hot spots," said Thompson.
The chief said the fire is now considered suspicious in nature.
The cause is still under investigation.