Raw video: Aerials of the aftermath | Firefighters rescue workers | Rescued workers interviewed | Fireman pulled from burning building | Jeff McShan's KHOU-TV report | District Fire Chief Tommy Dowdy updates KHOU-TV

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Flames and thick black smoke were pouring out of the high-rise.

Structural engineers checking the burned out ruins of a northeast Houston office building said they will have to first shore up portions of the structure before they can even go inside to further check the building's structural integrity.

Meanwhile the three victims who died in the mid-rise inferno Wednesday have been identified.

Three bodies were recovered from the charred building at 9343 North Loop East early Thursday.

Marvin Wells was an assistant pastor at a Houston area church.

Jeanette Hargrove, 52, and Shana Ellis, 38, both worked for the Texas Department of Assitive and Rehabilitative Services.

Both women were vocational rehabilitation counselors.

Hargrove is survived by a husband and 16-year-old daughter. Ellis leaves behind a 16-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Jeanette and Shana," said DARS Commissioner Terry Murphy. "We are extending our help and support to their families and co-workers. Jeanette and Shana were both deeply committed to their jobs and to helping people with disabilities find jobs. It is a tremendous loss for our agency and the consumers they worked with."

HFD

HFD Capt. Dale Lankford, 39, was injured in a fall.

The blaze erupted just after 5 p.m. and burned into the night.

Three civilians and three firefighters were hurt in the 4-alarm fire.

Two firefighters and one civilian remained at Memorial Hermann Hospital Thursday afternoon. The civilian is in critical condition.

HFD Captain Dale Langford, 41, was injured in a fall. He was reported to be in stable condition.

Firefighter Joel Eric Abbt, from Station 8, was also in stable condition. He's being treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. He was trapped in the building and had to be rescued by fellow firefighters.

One worker returned to the scene Thursday, counting herself among the blessed. Dawn Herring huddled with coworkers on the building's fourth floor and was one of the last people to be rescued.

"I feel blessed, I feel so blessed to have been able to get out," she said. "I didn't even realize how severe it was. I'm just thankful."

Investigators believe the fire started in a fifth-floor medical office. Attention turned to whether or not the building was equipped with operating fire alarms and sprinkler systems. Some, in the rush to exit, claimed to have not heard an alarm.

For now, any search of the building is on hold until engineers make an assesment of how safe it will be to enter.

"We put a lot of water in there; there's a lot of weight," HFD District Chief Tommy Dowdy said. "So between the heat and the water, there was a lot of damage to the building. We've done a primary search, we've looked; we don't believe there's anybody left in there.

"But until we've done that, we're not gonna feel good about it," Dowdy said.

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One of the injured firefighters was pulled out of the burning building and carried down a ladder.

Like a horror movie

The scene of the blaze resembled a horror movie. People could be seen waving their arms out of broken windows begging to be rescued.

Firefighters used ladders to rescue the trapped workers.

"We went into the hallway and there was all kinds of smoke and we couldn't get out," said another woman who was being treated with oxygen at the scene.

She and her co-workers went back to their fourth-floor office and broke out a window so they could breathe.

Mike Anderson told KHOU-TV they had to walk down the stairs in the dark to get out of the building.

KHOU-TV

Three victims were pulled from the building early Thursday.

Witnesses told KHOU-TV they heard a loud noise, then saw an oxygen tank in the window of the doctor's office where the fire might have started.

Firefighters won't be able to determine the cause of the blaze until they can get in the building to get a closer look.