A late-night fire on the top floor of the Sahara Suites Apartments sent residents scrambling to safety, including the Ramirez family, who lived in the unit below where the fire started.
Ray Ramirez said his family was asleep when his father woke up to a loud pop around 3 a.m. and stepped outside to see flames growing. “I’m waking up tired, and it’s like, what’s going on? I look out my window and I see, like, embers just falling off from the their apartment,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez said his father then began alerting family members and neighbors. “He goes inside and knocks on everyone’s door, my my room, my brother’s room. Wakes up my mom and my little sister to him, we need to go grab your stuff. There’s a fire,” Ramirez said.
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As the fire spread, smoke began moving into their unit. “Smoke eventually just started seeping into her apartment,” Ramirez said.
The San Antonio Fire Department put out the fire.
SAFD said, “We’re gonna work with apartment management to see if we get those folks relocated.”
The Ramirez family said they spent the next day going through what items they could salvage.
The apartment complex relocated them to a nearby hotel, but Ramirez said the family is still facing uncertainty about what comes next. “With moving out, we’re probably gonna have to figure that out on our own,” he said.
No serious injuries were reported as a result of the fire.