Firemen survey the damage to an upstairs apartment unit that went up in flames on Sunday at the Timbers Apartments on Texas 327 East. No one was injured in the blaze. -Photo by Daniel Elizondo

An early evening fire on Sunday wreaked havoc for several families in Silsbee, after the apartment building suffered heavy smoke damage.

Fire ravaged a unit at the Timber Apartments in Silsbee on Texas 327 East on Sunday leaving several families without a home for the evening.

According to Silsbee Fire Chief Billy Slaydon, a fire in the kitchen in one of the upstairs units began to spread into the attic, threatening a building in the complex, which houses four units.

Silsbee fire responded to the call at 6:23 p.m. and battled the fire an hour before it was contained to within the one apartment unit.

Mutual aid from surrounding communities provided support including Lumberton Fire, Kountze Fire and Evadale Fire.

Silsbee VFD were the first responders and immediately worked on the attic to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to the entire building.

“We knocked down the entrance and limited the fire to within the kitchen,” Slaydon said. “The only problems were that the building suffered heavy smoke damage on both upstairs and downstairs apartments.”

According to Slaydon, the fire started on the stove, but there was no direct cause.

Families in three units of the building were displaced for at least one evening. No word on if the family of the unit that caught fire would be able to return any time soon.

There were no injuries reported.