By Deanna Boyd
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — Separate weekend apartment fires claimed the lives of a 23-year-old North Richland Hills man and a Haltom City woman believed to be in her early 70s.
The cause of both fires remained unknown Monday.
Tanner Murphy was discovered dead about 9 p.m. Saturday by his sister on the floor of his bedroom in the Hilltop Apartment Complex in the 6400 block of Iron Horse Boulevard in North Richland Hills.
Assistant Fire Chief Mike Rawson said the fire, which appeared to have started on Murphy’s bed and was confined to the bedroom, had apparently ignited and burned out hours before Murphy’s body was discovered.
“We’ve got a report that the neighbor heard what she thought was the microwave making its beeping sound. We think that might have been the smoke alarm,” Rawson said.
Rawson said Murphy was a known smoker and investigators are looking into whether a cigarette could have started the fire.
Investigators are also still trying to determine what caused a fire at the Waldemar Apartment complex in Haltom City that killed one woman and displaced more than a dozen residents.
The identity of the victim, believed to be in her early 70s, had not been released as of Monday afternoon while efforts continued to reach her family members.
Haltom City Fire Marshall Fred Knapp said firefighters were called to the complex in the 4800 block of Waldemar Street about 11 p.m. Sunday. The complex is about a block and a half from a fire station, he said.
Knapp said the fire is believed to have started on the bottom floor of the two-story apartment where the victim lived. He said the victim was found on the floor of her upstairs’ bedroom.
“When they pulled up to the scene, they opened the front door and the whole bottom floor was on fire — from top to bottom — and there was fire coming up the stairwell,” Knapp said. “They had to fight the fire to get up to search where the bedrooms are, and that’s where they found the victim.”
Though the fire was mostly contained to the victim’s apartment, Knapp said electricity had to be cut off to the entire building, displacing about 15 residents for the night. Residents were placed in vacant apartments at the complex or were assisted by the Red Cross, he said.