Village Fire Story Rekindles After Almost 5 Years

Back in July, 2018, flames had utterly consumed an apartment complex in San Marcos. Five residents had unfortunately lost their lives, and seven others were injured just as badly. What, however, nobody had expected was that this tragedy could have been prevented. Grilling, isn’t it?

A docuseries is being made, because of which, a gripping tale is finally being told to the public. Lives that could have been saved, agony that could have been avoided, destruction that could have been stopped. Everything would change for BK and his family on July 20, 2018.

“I was working on the first feature film set that I’d ever worked on, and Hayley was actually supposed to be there, too, but she had decided that she’d rather stay in San Marcos and work,” BK said. “She was staying in my apartment. And I got up for work that morning, rolled over to turn my alarm off. And I saw a text from a friend of mine with a picture of the building on fire.”

The Iconic Village Fire started around about 4:27 a.m. and by the time it was extinguished, five young adults were declared dead on spot. A new task force that includes multiple law enforcement agencies was formed back in October 2022 to re-examine the case. Happily so, The Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit joined.

The task force will now re-examine all the evidence, witness statements, and more or less everything else collected so far in the criminal investigation. The panel discusses the case on a weekly basis. Investigators continue to follow up on every lead and each tip received from the public. A reward of up to $110,000 is still being offered for tips leading to the identification or arrest of the person who set the catastrophic fire. Anyone with information can call 1-888-ATF-TIPS or email [email protected] to report possible leads.

The lawsuit contends that the apartments had unsafe conditions, such as a lack of fire sprinklers, unreliable smoke detectors, and a flawed roof design that had apparently fed massive amounts of oxygen to the fire. That civil action was filed by Miranda’s parents, along with 13 tenants at Iconic Village and the nearby Vintage Pads Apartments, together.

The corporate owner and various managers of Iconic Village Apartments near Texas State University reached a settlement with the plaintiffs before the trial began. The terms of that settlement are confidential, which is standard protocol. BK lost his sister his roommate David Ortiz and his friend Zachary suffered third-degree burns to nearly 70 percent of his body and a traumatic brain injury as he fled the burning building. BK Frizzell is talking about his sister Haley Michele Frizzell.

BK and Haley were from San Angelo, they attended Texas State University in San Marcos. The siblings both had pretty similar interests especially when it came to movies. Once she got to Texas State with me, we made a plan for me to be the writer and her to be the director and make a production company together,” BK said. “And so that’s why my production company now is called HMF Productions. It’s her initials.”