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Grease fire destroys several Henderson apartments

Posted at 1:26 PM, Jul 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-28 20:32:14-04

An early Friday morning fire in Henderson displaced 10 adults and 9 children.

"I don't have much in the world but that was all of it," said Christopher Cooper, a man displaced by the fire.

It started as a late night snack. Cooper was cooking with oil. He says he left the room for a moment and then smelled smoke. Minutes later, the fire had destroyed several apartments near Center Street and Burkholder Boulevard.

"When I look across and I saw my neighbor and he's got his family sitting on the curb, you know you kind of take some of that on," he said.

Cooper thinks he could've stopped this, but said he couldn't get a fire extinguisher to work.

"I really believe that if that first fire extinguisher had worked that this wouldn't have happened," said Cooper.

He says he tried three fire extinguishers without any luck. According to a tag on one of the extinguishers, one of the last service dates was December 2015.

"Yeah, someone could definitely have lost their life and the owner knows these issues are here," said David Singer, a neighbor.

13 Action News spoke with the property manager. She would not speak on camera, but said new extinguishers will be delivered soon.

"I don't want to sound like a cliche that they've been throwing at me this morning, at least you got everybody out. That doesn't feel like I did anything," Cooper said.

Guilt, anger, sadness -- these embers still burn for Cooper.