Several former tenants of a Forth Worth apartment complex who were forced out of their homes by a massive rooftop fire have filed a lawsuit against the property and its managers, alleging gross negligence by a contract worker whose actions allegedly sparked the blaze and accusing property managers of denying access to residents’ units, according to a news release Wednesday by the law firm representing the residents.
No injuries were reported during the June 23 blaze at The Cooper, located at 1001 W. Rosedale Street. The six-alarm fire, however, resulted in at least 800 tenants being forced out of their homes, according to officials and the lawsuit.
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Nearly 300 firefighters worked for over 30 hours to extinguish the blaze at the six-story building, which occurred under sweltering conditions during the afternoon. During the blaze, structural collapse was reported and the building suffered fire, smoke and water damage, officials have said.
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Filed in Tarrant County’s 48th District Court, the lawsuit names the complex, property managers Cushman & Wakefield, RPM Living, owner Lightbulb Capital Group and the electrical company hired to perform the circuit breaker replacement work, the news release says.
Barricades and dumpsters are seen outside The Cooper apartment complex, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Fort Worth. A six-alarm fire June 23 displaced over 800 residents from the complex.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
It was not immediately clear what amount of monetary damages the lawsuit seeks but the plaintiffs are demanding “economic and non-economic damages, including loss of personal property, relocation expenses, lost wages, mental anguish, and permanent loss of irreplaceable property,” according to the news release.
In the nearly two months since the fire, some tenants say that they have been barred from retrieving their personal belongings, according to the lawsuit. Some residents were allowed to retrieve items from their apartments but it was over a month before they were allowed in, the release says.
Fire damage is seen at The Cooper apartment complex, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Fort Worth. A six-alarm fire June 23 displaced over 800 residents from the complex.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
“What happened at The Cooper is unfathomable,” said Katie Steele, the residents’ attorney, in a news release Wednesday. “No one should lose their home due to negligence — and then be shut out from recovering what little remained. This is cruelty piled on top of catastrophe.”
The property managers and owner did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment by The Dallas Morning News.
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The fire broke out at the apartment complex while a worker was completing a rooftop breaker replacement, according to the lawsuit.
The suit accuses property managers of hiring an unlicensed technician to perform the job and that he was unsupervised while completing the job, the news release says. The electrician and the electrical repair company, Cano Electric, as well as its owner, Larry Cano, are also named in the lawsuit.
Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire at the The Cooper, located at 1001 W. Rosedale Street, on Monday June 24, 2025.
Glen E. Ellman / Fort Worth Fire Department
“We have exhausted every avenue in our efforts to obtain answers from Lightbulb and RPM Living,” Steele said. “Our calls for transparency have been met with silence. The time for avoiding accountability is over. We will see them in court.”
Daisy Chukwu, 23, who was forced out of her apartment by the fire but is not a party to the lawsuit, said she is happy that her former neighbors are taking steps to push back against property managers.
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“It’s just been very frustrating and tiring because it’s one thing that there’s nothing that can be recovered from the fire,” she said. “I can move on. But with them kind of holding all of our things in limbo and not being transparent with what’s actually going on, it’s just been emotionally taxing and hasn’t allowed us to move on peacefully from the situation because it still seems like there’s a potential we could get us stuff.”
Chukwu, who no longer lives at The Cooper, said she appreciates the newfound attention that has been given to their situation, which she believes has empowered other renters to voice their own frustrations with landlord practices.
“What I’ve been kind of trying to work towards is publicizing this problem of management companies getting away with ruining people’s lives,” she said. “I don’t think there’s an amount that could provide justice for the struggling that we’ve gone through so I really just like the fact that this is getting out and a lot of people are aware of the situation and are sharing the fact that they’ve gone through similar situations.”