{"id":347678,"date":"2026-06-23T22:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T22:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347678\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T22:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T22:52:12","slug":"fort-worth-residents-reflect-one-year-after-the-cooper-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347678\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth residents reflect one year after the Cooper fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week marks the one-year anniversary of an historic Fort Worth fire<\/a> that engulfed a Rosedale Street apartment complex and displaced 834 residents on June 23, 2025. Many former residents say they are still dealing with the consequences of the fire one year later, with some entering into lawsuits against<\/a> the Cooper and its owner, Lightbulb Capital Group, two management companies and Cano Electric, the electrical company hired to work on the HVAC<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a complete lifestyle alteration is the best way to say it,\u201d former Cooper resident William McReynolds told the Star-Telegram.<\/p>\n

June 23, 2025 \"The The Fort Worth Fire Department responds to a six-alarm fire at an apartment complex in the 1000 block of West Rosedale on Monday, June 23, 2025. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com <\/p>\n

The Fort Worth Fire Department was called to The Cooper apartment complex<\/a> in Fort Worth\u2019s Near Southside neighborhood at 1001 W. Rosedale St. shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Monday, June 23.<\/p>\n

The six-alarm fire, caused by electrical issues<\/a>, began while many residents were away at work and school. As residents rushed back to the apartment complex, they were greeted by flames, thick smoke and firefighters battling the flames. The Fort Worth Fire Department, along with assistance from the Lake Worth and River Oaks fire departments, worked for more than eight hours in extreme heat to extinguish the blaze and put out any hot spots.<\/p>\n

\"The The Fort Worth Fire Department responds to a six-alarm fire at an apartment complex in the 1000 block of West Rosedale on Monday, June 23, 2025. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com <\/p>\n

More than 60 fire trucks and almost 170 firefighters were on the scene. Crews stayed on scene until nightfall to monitor and extinguish hot spots. The fire was not declared under control until 10:20 p.m. One person in an apartment was taken to an area hospital in stable condition. Six firefighters and nearby civilians were treated for heat exhaustion.<\/p>\n

The firefighters evacuated residents and some pets from the six-story building, but some tenants lost their pets to the fire, including Miriam Zarza, who lost two cats and a dog. Zarza had only been living at The Cooper for two months at the time of the fire.<\/p>\n

\"Miriam Miriam Zarza, a two-month resident at the The Cooper, holds her sign while being interviewed by the media during a protest outside the building in Fort Worth on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Residents planned a protest to mark one month since the Cooper apartment fire displaced its residents leaving them without their belongings. Chris Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com Where are The Cooper tenants now?<\/p>\n

Former Cooper resident Eliseo Acevedo said it doesn\u2019t feel like a year passed since the fire. He said he had to change some of his life plans due to financial losses stemming from replacing and hiring movers after the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, I do feel a sense of worry every time I leave my apartment or hear a fire alarm,\u201d Acevedo said. \u201cAlso, I just don\u2019t want to buy things anymore. Some of my collectibles that used to bring me joy just don\u2019t anymore. I feel like I can lose everything at any minute, so there is no point in continuing to collect things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acevedo said that some of those collectables were taken from his apartment<\/a> during the period of time that tenants were not allowed to reenter their units and retrieve items.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should have to wait months to get their stuff back,\u201d Acevedo said. \u201cThere is no excuse. People should be wary of who they rent from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple tenants said that items had been stolen from their apartment after the fire last year. Some even filed police reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McReynolds, said the fire \u201cruined his life.\u201d He was working from home the day the fire happened.<\/p>\n

McReynolds said he lost the chance to attend his mother\u2019s memorial service to say a final goodbye because his passport was inside his apartment. He had moved from state to state in recent years and didn\u2019t have a Texas license. A month prior to the fire, the Department of Homeland Security put REAL ID requirements<\/a> into effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that stuff was in the apartment,\u201d McReynolds said. \u201cSo I just had no ability, there was no leniency in getting those documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he also lost his job at Deloitte because he couldn\u2019t get his work computer back from the apartment. It was not until nearly five months after the fire that he could finally see his belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had childhood yearbooks,\u201d McReynolds said. \u201cI know that might be a silly thing, but that\u2019s just to put in perspective basically your entire life is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf7d\ufe0f\ud83c\udf77 Latest restaurant news: <\/p>\n

McReynolds and other former tenants are shocked and upset<\/a> that The Cooper\u2019s owners continue to do business and are trying to once again rent out the apartments. McReynolds said ownership is removing bad reviews of the complex and removing any mention of the fire.<\/p>\n

Sid Telidevara, whose apartment was deemed a total loss by The Cooper, said he is also upset about the company renting apartments again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely ridiculous, It\u2019s criminal what they did to us,\u201d Telidevara said. \u201cI think the landlord should be in jail, not renting out to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telidevara said he lives near the complex and tries not to even look at it as he drives by because of the pain and anger it causes. He joined a tenants\u2019 rights organization to get a better understanding of all the issues renters face.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife since has been very tough,\u201d Telidevara told the Star-Telegram. \u201cIt\u2019s been stressful rebuilding. It\u2019s been a lot of money, it\u2019s been a lot of stress on all my interpersonal relationships. It\u2019s been a year, but I still battle with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the hardest part was feeling like he doesn\u2019t know what the future holds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Lightbulb going to get off scot-free and nobody pays anything, and no restitution is done?\u201d Telidevara said. \u201cIt just kind of feels like I\u2019m stuck in the same place, just kind of waiting for something to happen so I can move the [expletive] on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Displaced Displaced residents wait in the shade for clearance to access their apartment units on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, following a six-alarm fire at the Cooper Apartments in Near Southside Fort Worth the previous day. Chris Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com
\n Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Fousia Abdullahi<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Fousia Abdullahi is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram news reporter who covers suburban cities including Southlake, Colleyville, Grapevine and Keller. She enjoys reading and attending local events. Send tips by email or phone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week marks the one-year anniversary of an historic Fort Worth fire that engulfed a Rosedale Street apartment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-347678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}