SAN ANTONIO – Heavy fire tore through a home and spread to a neighboring house, leaving an elderly woman with burns and causing what firefighters expect will be a total loss of the original structure.
Around 5:45 p.m. on Monday, the San Antonio Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire near the corner of Zachry and Palm Drive.
“Good afternoon, Doug Reed, Battalion Eight, Antonio Fire,” Reed said at the scene. He said crews responded to a reported structure fire and, “Upon arrival, found heavy fire in one home impinging on a second home.”
Reed said there was “significant damage to the original structure and significant damage to the secondary.” He added, “We estimate the amount. I would think it’s going to be pretty much a total loss on the original structure. Significant damage throughout.”
One person was taken for treatment. “One person being transported with burns, non-life-threatening,” Reed said, adding, “But any burns are considered potentially critical. So she’s being transported, elderly female.”
Reed said two people were at the home before firefighters arrived and both got out on their own. “There were two people there when we called it in,” he said. “But the two that were in the home prior to our arrival self-extricated.”
Firefighters did not find anyone inside when they arrived. “So the residents were giving us information that they were out and that the pets were out, so we found nobody in the home when we arrived,” Reed said.
Reed said investigators were on the way and crews expected to remain on scene. “I’ve got the investigators on the way, and there’s a lot of outside debris, so we’re going to have to be here for a while sorting through all the burning on the outside of the home,” he said.