A man had to be pulled from a second-story balcony early Wednesday after flames tore through an apartment complex in Plano, and police say they now have a person of interest in custody as investigators look into whether the fire was intentionally set. The blaze struck the Villas at Chase Oaks on the 600 block of Legacy Drive, sending at least one person to the hospital and leaving numerous residents without a place to sleep.
Crews responded around midnight as flames shot out of the complex, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. First responders found a man trapped on a second-floor balcony and got him out before the fire could spread further into his unit. He was taken to the hospital, and NBC 5 reported he was in stable condition following the rescue.
FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth offered a different account of the man's condition, reporting that paramedics took him to the hospital with only minor injuries. The outlet also described the rescue as coming after the man yelled for help from the balcony, drawing firefighters to his location as the fire intensified around him.
Fire Escalates to Two Alarms as Roof Gives Way
What started as a single-alarm response quickly grew more dangerous. The fire was escalated to two alarms as crews worked to contain it, per the same NBC 5 account. At one point, part of the roof collapsed onto firefighters battling the blaze, according to Fox 4, though none of them were hurt in the collapse.
The scale of displacement remains somewhat unclear, with the two outlets offering slightly different tallies. Fox 4 reported that 10 units inside the building were left uninhabitable, while NBC 5 cited officials saying approximately 10 to 12 apartments were impacted by the fire. Either way, a significant number of Plano families were left scrambling for shelter in the middle of the night.
Arson Suspected, Person of Interest in Custody
Fire investigators suspect arson was behind the blaze, and Plano police have since taken a person of interest into custody as the investigation continues, Fox 4 reported. Details on the person's identity, the status of any charges, or the exact cause investigators believe sparked the fire have not been released.
This is not the first time an apartment complex in the Chase Oaks area of Plano has dealt with a serious fire. Years earlier, a two-alarm blaze at the nearby Saxony at Chase Oaks Apartments displaced 19 families after flames broke out on a third-floor balcony just after 4 p.m. on a Sunday, according to Star Local Media. That building held 20 units, and all but one were occupied at the time of the fire.
For now, residents displaced by the Legacy Drive fire are left waiting on updates from investigators while property crews assess the damage. No further details on injuries, the extent of structural damage, or the investigation's next steps had been released as of Wednesday morning.
