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Aug 15, 2008 5:47 pm US/Central
About 500 Irving Residents Forced To Evacuate
IRVING (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
As many as 500 people are evacuating their homes in Irving because their apartment complex is unsafe.
On Friday, the Irving Fire Department ordered that all the residents of the Vista del Lago apartment complex to evacuate the premises.
After an inspection, the department declared the complex to be a "dangerous building" under the International Fire Code.
The order of evacuation appeared late Friday morning, giving many of the residents of 125 separate units less than 12 hours to get themselves and their belongings off of the property.
The City of Irving is calling this a true emergency evacuation, as the property has as many as 1,100 housing violations found on Tuesday, including problems with the wiring and roofing.
In a statement, Irving Assistant Fire Chief Mike Evitts said, "If a fire ignited in a building with these conditions, fire would spread rapidly, quickly endangering tenants and fire rescue personnel attempting to extinguish the fire."
"This is the worst one I've seen in the City of Irving," Evitts continued. "The only time I've seen worse then this is when they were on fire and already collapsing."
The city and the property owner are helping the residents of the apartment complex find someplace else to live.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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