SAN ANTONIO — Residents in a downtown San Antonio apartment complex were forced out of their homes early Tuesday morning after a fire next door threatened their building, officials said.
Just after 3 a.m., the San Antonio Fire Department and the San Antonio Police Department responded to the fire at the 400 block of Center Street near Commerce Street.
When crews arrived, seeing how big the fire was, they ordered a second alarm fire for the three-story building right away, officials said.
The battalion chief said the fire was an immediate hazard due to the heavy flames and charged power lines. For that reason, firefighters had to attack the fire from the outside.
The building was a total loss. The neighboring building had some minor damage like broken windows.
Terramark Urban Homes, the developer of City Center Lofts, released this statement:
"We are under construction on the townhomes at 414 and 412 Center Street and received a call at approximately 3 a.m. that the units were on fire. Our VP of Construction, Reid Curry, left immediately to see what could be done to help save the homes. The units were scheduled to be insulated this week. By the time he arrived on the scene, the San Antonio Fire Department was already on-site and it was clear, despite their best efforts, they would be a total loss. It’s not clear what would have caused a fire at that time, but they were not at a point where power was connected to the units. We appreciate the SAFD’s work to help ensure the fire did not spread. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear anyone was hurt."
Officials said the residents were able to go back home. Arson investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire. There were also no injuries reported.
Ryan Proudfoot has lived in the area for nine months and said he woke up to the sounds of sirens and loud noise.
"One of my neighbors was frequently ringing my doorbell. I wasn't sure what was going on so I rolled my windows up and I saw a lady running away from my door, going house to house banging on doors, ringing doorbells," he told KENS 5. "I was just in shock. I thought maybe my neighbor's house was on fire, possibly. I wasn't sure. We were disoriented. It was the two new developments that were on fire."
Proudfoot said the whole experience was overwhelming.
"The fire – they were three-story homes so the flames were incredibly high and they were bending over... Coming towards our homes so I thought the two power lines were going to topple over and catch our homes on fire," he said.
Several neighbors expressed their gratitude about firefighters responding so quickly to put out the fire.
This is a developing story. Check back with KENS 5 for new details online and on-air.