2-alarm apartment fire displaces over a dozen families on New Year's Eve

AUSTIN, Texas - Another apartment fire has forced families from their homes just one day before the start of the new year.

A two-alarm fire in south Austin lit up the sky early Tuesday morning.

"Very scary for me. Yeah, and it's especially with a kid, he was crying the whole time," said resident Enrique Frausto.

Frausto lives a few doors down from where the fire broke out with his wife and three-year-old son.

"We heard a big, big sound outside and people screaming. So we had to go outside and look and see what happened. And so we, we saw like everybody was running away and then we saw the fire. So we, we got scared," said Frausto.

A fast-moving fire at the Iconic at South First Apartments left more than a dozen people without a home as the new year approaches.

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"They tried to tell us to go somewhere else or, you know, but we don't have, you don't have nowhere to go," said Frausto.

He grabbed all his valuables and packed his car full, and his family spent the night in the car.

The Austin Fire Department says the fire started on the first floor of one apartment spreading to others. Four apartments are a total loss, eight were damaged, and the building was left without power.

"It's not that common to pull out of the fire station, to go across the street and be met with, you know, fire on two floors and then already into the attic as well," said Assistant Chief, Smith.

Around 2 a.m. Dec. 31, AFD was able to stop the fire from spreading once they arrived. A video from a bystander shows just how big the flames got.

Austin Travis County EMS says they treated four people for smoke inhalation: three children went to Dell Children's Medical Center, one person was treated on scene. 

This is the second apartment fire in two days to displace Austinites. Just Monday, a north Austin apartment fire left nine people without a home.

Assistant Chief Smith says this is the busiest time of the year for AFD.

"Watch the space heaters to close the combustibles, have your furnaces and your fireplaces inspected by a qualified company that can come in, inspect those for you, make sure they're in good working order. Really don't use the extension cords if you can help it," said Smith.

The Red Cross and APD Victim Services are working to help those displaced from both fires, lik Frausto Enrique and his family. Fortunately, his apartment is fine with some minor smoke damage, although he doesn’t have any electricity after the fire.

But he’s optimistic moving forward.

"We want to wait for the electricity company to come and look at it, see how long it's going to take. But we're going to be okay. I mean, I got I, I got my job. I got everything," said Frausto.

It’s unclear what started the fire and the investigation is still ongoing.