SAN ANTONIO — A woman who lives in the Whispering Oaks neighborhood off Wurzbach says it was a late night burger run that led to the discovery of a devastating house fire on Whisper Path overnight.
The call for help was made just after 11 p.m.
Leigh, who lives across the street from the home that was destroyed, said her son was returning home when he noticed smoke filling the street.
Seeing a small patch of flames burning through the roof, Leigh said "He ran to the door and he started banging on the door to see if there was anybody in the house and ringing the doorbell trying to check it out."
Leigh said by the time firefighters arrived and she noticed their flashing lights outside, the small patch of flames had grown and was consuming the roof.
Praising firefighters for containing the blaze to just one house, Leigh said everyone was impressed by the fight.
Leigh said firefighters warned everyone to stay away from the eastern wall of the house because of the fear of collapse.
"The whole house could collapse he said, basically," Leigh said, adding for safety's sake, firefighters did end up pushing a section of the unstable roof to the ground to mitigate the danger.
Fighting the fire from above with ladders and platform trucks, and from the ground with hand lines, it took an extended period of time to gain the upper hand and fire officials said one firefighter sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital to be checked out. They said he was not badly injured.
The homeowner was away at the time of the blaze. She returned Friday to begin the task of trying to salvage mementos. The house, firefighters said, is considered a total loss.
Early Friday, an inspector from the City's Development Services office installed a placard on the porch, declaring the structure unsafe. The owner said she was told the city will probably move forward to obtain an emergency demolition order.
Oftentimes with fires that result in extensive damage, investigators have trouble establishing a cause and in this case they said their investigation continues.
No dollar damage was set on the 3,000 square foot home.