DALLAS TX Feb 10 2020 – An apartment security guard is being labeled a hero after banging on tenant’s doors in the middle of the night to alert them about a fire. This happened just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, at the Tealwood Apartments in Northeast Dallas. It took firefighters just under two hours to extinguish the fire. One family said that even though they lost plenty, they’re grateful to be alive. There were 40 to 50 firefighters that attacked a fire. Investigators don’t know the exact cause, but they said it began within the wall and attic space of a third-floor apartment. Fire damaged the attic space of the building, along with two apartments. Smoke and water damaged more units.” And I was watching TV and I fell asleep. Heard beating on the door and my family came through this way,” Desmond Tyler recalled. Tyler’s apartment is now filled with clusters of ceiling and other debris. Smoke tarnished most of his family’s belongings.” All we heard was beating on our door, ‘Hey,’ this dude was yelling and screaming trying to get us out of there,” he said. “I saw my family running out, just talking about, ‘Come on.’ So I just looked for my mom, grabbed her and hurried down the stairs. ”“He got me out of here like, ‘Come on mama,’ I was like, ‘I can’t, I can’t,’” Barbara Stocks, Tyler’s mother, said. An apartment security guard made sure Tyler’s family, and everyone else in the 12-apartment building was safe.” And we just heard this bang, bang. ‘Y’all’s building is on fire. Get out, Y’all’s building is on fire,’” Stocks recalled. Stocks said firefighters tore through the ceiling to get to the attic space where the fire originated and to allow smoke to escape.” We could have just been smoked in here. Went to sleep and never woke up or something,” Stocks said. Now, their family and friends are helping them move what belongings weren’t destroyed. They’re among the 20 people the American Red Cross is working to assist. While facing a devastating scene, they’re grateful for what they still have.
