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UPDATE: Residents' homes destroyed in Henderson fire

2 cats died in the fire
Posted at 3:26 PM, Jun 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-29 03:11:43-04

UPDATE: 13 Action News spoke with the man who rushed in to save a woman and her young grandson.  

"We just knocked and were hollering fire, fire," said neighbor Darren Polin.  

Moments later, witnesses say the fire engulfed a trailer and then two homes. The blaze was intense. Cell phone video showed smoke rising high above the walls of the nearby apartment complex.

"Black smoke, that is all I could see," said Martha Drury.

Thanks to her alert neighbor, Drury and her family were able escape in time.  

Drury saved her dogs and birds but she lost two cats in the fire. Still she said she's grateful.

"I feel blessed because of the fact that we are still alive and that is what counts," she said.

Polin said the fire spread within minutes.

"We didn't want anybody hurt, you can replace things you can't replace people," he said.

Drury lost all of her personal possessions in the blaze.

Neighbor Travis Anderson's home was also destroyed.

"Most everything did not make it," said Anderson. "I'm laughing because it keeps me from crying."

Anderson is looking for his family's cat. It's believed that the animal escaped after being frightened.

Firefighters have not revealed a cause but witnesses said the fire was sparked in a nearby trailer.

Drury set up a GoFundMe. Anderson also set up a GoFundMe account.
 

ORIGINAL STORY
 
Two homes caught fire in Henderson Tuesday afternoon.
 
Investigators say the fire started in a single-story home fire in the 500 block of Zuber Avenue, near Boulder Highway and Warm Springs Road around 2:40 p.m.

The first arriving engine crew observed a fully involved fire at a one-story single family home, extending to the adjacent one-story single family home on one side and a recreational vehicle on the other. Firefighters organized an exterior defensive attack on both residences, extinguishing the fire in the second home and RV, then in the first home.

The first home’s resident was not home at the time of the fire; two adults and a child were in the second home and evacuated the residence safely. Five adults and one child were displaced as a result of the fire.

There were no injuries to residents or firefighters. Two pet cats perished in the fire.

 
An apartment complex behind the homes was evacuated as a precaution.
 
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was estimated at $445,000.