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Midland residents are left displaced and reflecting on early morning fire at Ranchland Apartments

Christopher Wilson woke up his family and got them to safety after his apartment complex caught on fire. The Red Cross is also helping families affected.

MIDLAND, Texas — A fire at the the Ranchland Apartments in Midland has left 22 residents displaced.

Christopher Wilson is one of those residents who is still in shock and disbelief, now that his apartment is gone.

"I really can't believe it," said Wilson.

The early morning fire forced him to rush his family to safety. 

"I had to kind of wake my kids up two times for them to understand it's a fire, it’s fire," Wilson said. "So they jumped up. They got their shoes on and their shirts or whatever. I mean, it was cold, but they got together and both of them got together and got out."

Once outside, Wilson said he couldn't believe his eyes. 

"The flame was so big," Wilson said. "It was up to that tree. This tree here. It was going that way. Next thing I know it ended up toward Wadley [Avenue]. And I mean, it was I'm glad they came in time before it set the other buildings on fire."

According to the City of Midland, fire crews arrived at 12:33 a.m. Monday and took three-and-a-half hours to put out the blaze.

Only one person was injured. Eight apartment units were impacted and the American Red Cross is helping the 22 residents left displaced.

"We worked with the management of the apartment complex and we can start doing case work and get everybody coordinated together," said Shane Bell, disaster action team coordinator for the American Red Cross. "We work through and find what the roadblocks are and help them get through it."

Through all this damage and destruction, residents and first responders are just glad everyone is safe. 

"I'm glad that everybody wasn't just in a deep deep deep sleep around here so everybody could get out who you know, we have newborn babies and everything in this units," Wilson said. "So I'm glad they got out of there."

Official say the cause of the fire was due to "an individual cooking."

According to the Midland Fire Department, this investigation is ongoing. 

RELATED: Early morning fire breaks out in Midland

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