Officials said it took fire crews just four minutes to get to the apartment.

One man has a place to call home tonight because of the quick response.

The apartment could not be saved but fire crews were able to keep flames from touching a trailer that is only a foot away.

Juan Betancourt a resident in the area told KFOX14 what he saw. "All the corner was completely in flames, fire and everything. I saw the firemen watering it and it went down pretty fast," he said.

Several units with a total of 20 firefighters responded from surrounding fire stations.

Station 5 at 4220 Alameda, station 13 at 5415 Trowbridge and station 14 at 6300 Delta are all located within minutes of apartment.

Battalion Chief Ramon Valencia told KFOX14 "The first unit arrived within four minutes the fire was placed under control seven minutes after the first unit arrived."

That four minutes response time is exactly the time it's supposed to be. Each station is designated to cover specific areas by the El Paso Fire Department planning division to ensure the quickest response. That response time made the difference between one building being damaged by the fire instead of two.

Despite gusty winds crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading. "A trailer was approximately a foot away from the building and we were able to keep it away from getting in to that other building," said Valencia.

Firefighters arrived to find local residents tried fighting the fire themselves. Valencia said, "There was a water hose on the ground and they were actually cooling the trailer."

Betancourt told KFOX 14 how he reacted when seeing the blaze. "I was about to go and check myself but no I saw the fire guys and everything working so I thought everything was under control," he said.

Although, first instinct for some may be to help by grabbing a water hose or extinguisher to put the fire out officials say that's not the best thing to do.

"No, they should call 911 and let us handle the incident," said Valencia.

Fire officials said the fire was intentionally set and one person was arrested in connection to this incident.

Total fire damage cost was estimated to about $35,000. No injuries were reported.