A Carrollton fire that heavily damaged four apartments and displaced nearly 20 people Wednesday is now being investigated as arson, according to the Carrollton Fire Department.
Seventeen residents at the Saddle Creek Apartments in Carrollton have been displaced as a result of the fire. That number includes two children. Four other units were also heavily damaged, fire officials said. One adult was transported to Medical City Plano as a precaution.
One dog was also found amid the fire and was treated and reunited with its owner.
Eyewitnesses with Operation Kindness, an animal shelter located next door to the apartment complex, first noticed the smoke around 4:40 p.m. and went over to the apartments to see how they could help. Marketing manager Kelsey Keys invited residents to take shelter at the nonprofit as staff gave the residents blankets to keep warm.
"We could see flames coming from the building and so we tried to ho help. By the time I got over there, the fire was mostly out and they were just evacuating people who were left," Keys said.
Keys saw a firefighter with a dog in a crate and rushed over to help.
"I said, 'OK, obviously the owner's out of the apartment, so I'll help the dog until we can find the owner,' and we did a check on the dog and made sure it was OK," Keys said.
Other veterinarian technicians gave the dog food and water until it could be reunited with its owner.
"I'm just glad we could do what we could to help," Keys said.
The apartment complex is paying for hotel rooms for residents who were displaced and Red Cross and Metrocrest Family services have been notified to help the residents, fire officials said. Metrocrest also gave Target gift cards to the fire victims for toiletries and other needs.