SAN ANTONIO — Firefighters battled a heavy blaze at some apartments on the northeast side of town Wednesday afternoon.
SAFD responded around 11:30 a.m. to the 3900 block of Thousand Oaks Drive, not far from Wetmore Road, for reports of a structure fire. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy flames in the first floor of the building. They started making an attack on it, as well as evacuating the neighboring apartments.
"It was upgraded to a second alarm as a precaution, obviously, just due to the construction type, size of it," said Joe Arrington, SAFD spokesman. "And obviously, with the wind today is a wind-aided fire. So right now, the entire building is involved in fire. We don't have an exact number of how many apartments that is, but no reports as of now of anyone missing, or we haven't found anyone."
Officials say that one of the buildings was completely burned through and the roof collapsed, and a total of 12 units were impacted. They are working with apartment management to make sure those impacted will be relocated. The American Red Cross will also be assisting in helping those affected.
37 firefighting units responded to the fire, which is about 100 firefighters, which includes support teams as well.
"Preliminary evidence indicate that it started in a fireplace area near the chimney," said Arrington. "But that's obviously something that investigators will look at."
The fact that the apartment complex only has one way and one way out made it difficult for the fire department to bring in the resources to fight the fire.
"We’re going to be here for quite a while due to the extensive lays for our large hoses to hit the hydrants out onto the street by the unit," said Arrington. "So that's some challenges there. Obviously, crews got water on it quick."
Currently there are no reports of any missing residents or injuries.
"If you're going to have a fire during the work day, obviously, less people will be inside the building," said Arrington. "There's no good time obviously, for a fire, but, but it's better now than in the middle of the night."
SAFD offered a few tips for staying safe as the temperatures get colder:
- Make sure your smoke alarms are working
- If you need one, you can call 211, and the fire department can come out and install one for you.
- The fire department will also come out and do a home safety exam survey on request
- Visit https://www.firesafesa.com/ for a form you can fill out to request a smoke detector or safety exam
- Make sure your chimney has been cleaned and inspected
No word on the amount of damages caused by the fire.
This is a developing story.