Texas firefighters said an elderly man who uses a wheelchair died in a fire caused by a candle during a power outage caused by Saturday's thunderstorms.
Firefighters said they think the victim's wife accidentally knocked over a candle when leaving the bedroom, trapping her husband. She tried to get to him, suffering second-degree burns in the process, before running outside to try and get help.
"I saw the lady outside, the man's husband," said neighbor Van Nguyen. "I heard her say, 'He's still inside! He's still inside!' And she was crying, crying like crazy."
Thick, choking smoke and heavy flames poured out of the unit at the Manhattan Park Townhomes on New York Avenue at about 11 p.m.
"I saw a lot of fire. Both windows, upstairs and downstairs. The back too. A lot of fire come out, very strong fire," Nguyen said.
A few neighbors rushed in to the unit to try and save the man. Since there was no power, they used the lights from their cellphones to try and see through the thick smoke. But it was too late.
One neighbor captured a few seconds of the dramatic search on his cellphone camera. You can hear the strangers crying out "Hello? Sir, are you there?" and then the wails of the victim's wife off-camera.
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Firefighters said the victim's wife should survive but she suffered second-degree burns and is now recovering at the hospital.
The victim's name has not yet been released.
