The Cooper, a $65 million five-story, 390-unit modern apartment building at 1001 W. Rosedale St., opened in 2020 in the Near Southside. The construction is akin to that of many similar buildings that popped up in Fort Worth as Cowtown began its growth spurt toward becoming the country\u2019s 11th-largest city. The complex was designed by GFF and built by general contractor KWA Construction, both well-known companies that have been involved in many major projects in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Firefighters used chainsaws to cut through the roof \u2014 a three-layer system consisting of metal decking, a layer of insulation and one of a water-repellant rubber membrane on top, with wooden trusses supporting the structure \u2014 to create vents to allow the heat from inside to escape and redirect the fire so firefighters could fight it from beneath.<\/p>\n
The rubber membrane is made up of an ethylene propylene diene terpolymer<\/a>, or EPDM, that is widely used in low-slope buildings, such as The Cooper, according to the EPDM Roofing Association, an industry trade group.<\/p>\n The rubber gummed up the saw blades in the intense midday temperatures and the heat generated by the cutting. That forced the firefighters to use packing knives, as they\u2019re trained, to cut through the inch of rubber, followed by tools like shovels to peel it back, Davis said. That allowed them to then cut through the decking, creating one vent about the size of a large conference room table, he said. They cut a second vent in a nearby wall.<\/p>\n The roofing system is one of a number of options allowed by city code, which tends to follow broadly accepted building codes in the North Texas area. Even though the roof presented what Davis called a \u201cchallenge,\u201d he said he had no problem with it.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally have no heartache or no issue with that particular type of roof,\u201d he said. \u201cI just know that what it does is it creates us a different, unique challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cooper\u2019s roofing system is one the Fort Worth Fire Department is familiar with, Davis said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see a lot of them, and they appear to work well,\u201d he said. \u201cThey keep the water out.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis pointed to heat as a particular factor in the fire. It was hot that day, with temperatures reaching over 90 degrees. As a result, firefighters couldn\u2019t stay on the roof very long to fight the fire and the rubberized covering on the roof began to break down, causing issues in working with the material, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHad it not been pushing 100-degree temperatures, and had (the fire) not been running and traveling the way it was, (I think) we would have gotten to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nur Yazdani, a professor in the civil engineering department at the University of Texas at Arlington, is a structural engineer with expertise in fire damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the rubber roofs are durable, lasting 30 to 40 years, but melt at high temperatures of about 300 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s touted as a good product, and it lasts a while and provides durability, but at the same time, it\u2019s not a good thing when you can\u2019t get into the attic in that kind of environment where the fire is,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fires can quickly get as hot as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.<\/p>\n Shawn Michael, president of Lon Smith Roofing, endorsed the rubber material as common in roofing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey are very good and durable, particularly for flat roof environments,\u201d he said. \u201cI had never really considered how they would operate under a condition when a building was on fire, but I can see where they might be more difficult to handle under those conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Code reviews coming up<\/strong><\/p>\n Evan Roberts, the city\u2019s building official, said he expects The Cooper incident to come up as Fort Worth reviews its codes for 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we are considering adopting a new code, we always do go back\u201d and review potentially relevant cases, he said in an interview. \u201cWe look across the industry, local incidents and national incidents, and say is there something here that we need to drill down on further? Is this creating an unsafe situation?\u201d<\/p>\n Such examination of The Cooper incident hasn\u2019t occurred yet, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a little farther down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n In February 2022, an apartment\/hotel complex under construction in Oklahoma City burned for several hours. Reports cited the rubber roofing materials shielded the fire underneath from the 2 million gallons of water applied to the fire, according to a report<\/a> in Firefighter Nation.<\/p>\n Roberts noted the codes are not about mandating choices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not intended to limit materials,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s intended to provide minimum requirements for the safe installation of said materials. So it\u2019s really the designer\u2019s choice. As with all construction decisions, it\u2019s a balancing act between long-term cost versus upfront lifetime carry costs and how it works. We don\u2019t necessarily get involved in that calculus.\u201d<\/p>\n The fire department has trained extensively on mid-rise buildings of four to seven stories, with a department-wide training in March, and The Cooper fire, at six stories, put that training into action.<\/p>\n Challenges presented by such buildings often include underground parking, big courtyards, apartments on the street and away from it, and limited access, Davis said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like taking a high-rise and putting it on its side,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt\u2019s not 20 stories in the air, but now it\u2019s 500 feet long down the street. There\u2019s limited access points. We\u2019ve got to figure out hose stretches, got to figure out water supply, water pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n Water supply and pressure were not issues in The Cooper fire, he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Couldn\u2019t get ahead of it fast enough\u2019<\/p>\n The cause of the fire, attributed to an electrical anomaly with arcing, started around an air conditioning unit on the roof. It was spotted by a technician working for an electrical contractor who was trouble-shooting an electrical problem in the air conditioning unit and called 911 when he smelled smoke and saw fire.<\/p>\n The call was dispatched as an apartment fire, with four engines, two trucks and two battalion chiefs responding, department spokesman Craig Trojacek said.<\/p>\n Firefighters discovered a fire running beneath the roof decking in a void space \u2014 an empty, enclosed, unused space near the roof and air conditioner. One group of firefighters went to the roof to confront the blaze. A second group began evacuating the building, Davis said.<\/p>\n Using drones and thermal imaging, they spotted the fire beneath the roof and behind a wall on the roof, Davis said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t get ahead of it fast enough because it was running,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n It likely took about 30 minutes to cut the two vents on top of the building, Davis said. Commanders called the firefighters off the roof for their safety, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is underneath our people\u2019s feet here, it\u2019s in the wall here, and it\u2019s running in this spot,\u201d Davis said, showing the thermal imaging pictures. \u201cThey\u2019ve already cut some holes in it. We need to now let the fire start opening that roof up for us, because it\u2019s too dangerous for us to put people above it and take the risk of them falling through.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost three hours after the 911 call, the sixth alarm was called.<\/p>\n Richard Hicks, assistant fire chief, noted the building and fire codes Fort Worth operates under were last updated in 2021, published in 2022, and will be revisited in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cOur standards are very high nationally,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n According to the June 27 incident report, fire crews cleared the scene at 8:19 p.m. June 24 \u2014 30 hours after the original 911 call.<\/p>\n Other lessons to be learned from The Cooper fire<\/strong><\/p>\n Along with reviewing the fire codes, Fire Chief Davis said he anticipated the incident review would address:<\/p>\n Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for the Documenters program at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-TheCooperfire-03.jpg\")
The damage to the upper floors is seen at The Cooper on June 25, 2025, in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Goss-TheCooperfire-06.jpg\")
Caution tape blocks off an entrance littered with rubble June 25, 2025, at The Cooper in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1750614464_36_cc-by-nd-4.0.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n