CEDAR PARK, Texas — Residents at the Bexley at Silverado Apartments in Cedar Park knew something was wrong on Tuesday night when smoke started gathering around their complex.
"I looked outside, and I started seeing our neighbors running around. And so, I just, like, grabbed my dog," said Nicole Rocha, a resident of Building 10.
It was something Rocha never expected to see.
"I couldn't believe it was actually happening," she said.
On Wednesday afternoon, the residents got to take their first look back at their former home. Building 10 was destroyed by the fire.
"We're able to see into three little cracks through our blinds. You can see that the floor – we're on the second floor – and the third floor actually collapsed into our unit," said Ruben Telles, a Building 10 resident.
"I feel like, I was shocked," Rocha said. "Then when I saw it, like, reality hit. Literally, it's gone."
Telles and Rocha had family members in the area, so they were able to stay with them the night they evacuated. But trying to put the pieces together of what happened on Tuesday night has been difficult.
"Just like, the continued realization, like, 'Oh, this really did happen,' you know?" Telles said. "We get to talking and then it kind of seems like it's not happening, 'this seems like a dream.' It's just like we keep realizing that it's actually happening, and it's kind of sad."
Telles is a Hutto firefighter, so he knows what families who lose their homes go through. But he said it's different actually feeling it himself.
"Just being on this side and seeing the little things that they got to go through, like, ‘Oh, I don't have any IDs. I don't have my keys to my car.’Sseeing that just kind of, I feel it a little bit more for them," Telles said.
Telles and Rocha said their apartment complex gave them a list of sister apartments in the area that would waive transfer fees and try to get them moved in as quickly as possible. But until then, the residents who lost their homes will be figuring out what their lives are like now without all of their belongings.