Four families are picking up the pieces and trying to rebuild their lives after a fire tore through their Irving apartment building early Sunday morning.
The fire started at around 5:30 p.m. at Broadmoor Villas near the George Bush Turnpike and Belt Line Road.
More than 50 firefighters responded to the three-alarm fire but the building was a total loss. Four families lost their homes that day.
Shawn Brown said she lived at the apartment complex for two-and-a-half-years and was at work when she got the call.
"It's indescribable. It's indescribable to see everything that you've worked for, all your life, gone," she said.
Irving Fire Marshal Derek Austin said the cause of the fire is unknown.
"We're not sure if it started on the bottom floor or not. We have reason to believe that it may have started in between the floors," Austin said.
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Austin estimated the damages to be around $1 million.
For victims like Brown, no monetary value can be placed on some of the possessions. "Mostly photographs, I had a collection of figurines that I've been collecting for 20-something years that has no value to nobody else but me," Brown said.
Volunteers from the American Red Cross rushed to the scene to help the displaced families.
"There is so much sentimental value that we cannot replace at the Red Cross, but what we try to do is make sure that people have that safe place to go, they've got food to eat, they've got clothes to wear," said Anita Foster, spokesperson for the American Red Cross.
Brown said reality is still sinking in and said she was thankful that her life was spared.
"By the grace of God, I have insurance, and eventually I'll be able to find someplace else to live and start all over again," she said.
