The eight units of Building No. 8 were a total loss, said Fire Marshal Mark Smith of Temple Fire and Rescue. Not even personal belongings would be salvageable, due to the danger of falling debris. Smith said he thought the fire started accidentally in the patio at the east end of the breezeway.
Temple Police Officers Keith Mueller, Kenneth Moss, Michael Keating and David Camden arrived about 2:18 a.m. In a police car video, the breezeway looked like a fireball. Other parts of the building were also in flames.
A man jumped from the second-story window of the apartment in the southeast corner, near a flood-control ditch. The officers ran to him and found that his wife and four children were inside, reported Lt. Edward Best of Temple police.
The officers stood under the window as the mother threw the four children to them. The children ranged in age from 5 months to 5 years. The officers then prepared to break the fall of the mother.
Engine No. 3 had arrived at 2:19 a.m. Two firefighters got a ladder off the truck, and a fire captain told the woman to wait. She jumped, and flames immediately appeared in the window, Best said.
The woman was taken to Scott and White Memorial Hospital with an ankle injury, he said. She may have also been treated for smoke inhalation, said Thomas Pechal, Temple Fire and Rescue public information officer. Another person may have been taken to the hospital with second-degree burns on the right hand. Another person was treated at the scene for scratches and bruises. The children were not injured, Best said.
