SAN ANTONIO — A woman is in the hospital after an explosion sparked a fire at a home on the northwest side Tuesday evening, San Antonio fire officials said.
Just after 6:30 p.m., several units were called to a two-story house on Ferris Creek near Finesilver. A spokesperson for the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) said a man was driving his vehicle into his garage when he "accidentally went too far and struck a water heater." It's unclear if a gas line or the vehicle caused the explosion, the fire official said.
Neighbors described what they witnessed.
"It' was very frightening," said one woman. "There were explosions, it sounded like a transformer. There was glass and window frames on our yard. We just saw the fire in the garage and [the neighbors] were still inside. So, we helped get them out."
Several neighbors helped rescue the man who was in the garage, we are told. The man's wife was also rescued from another part of the home. Officials say she suffered burns and was transported to the hospital, but is expected to survive.
“Crews did find heavy fire involvement in the garage area that was rapidly spreading throughout the home,” said Joe Arrington, a public information officer for SAFD. “That fire did start to spread, but crews worked quickly to stop it from spreading to other homes. Parts of the home, you can see here, collapsed onto a neighboring house.”
Firefighters could be seen dousing the flames as parts of the home collapsed.
“A wall collapsed, the chimney collapsed, the area above the garage did collapse,” said Arrington. "We did go defensive because of those hazards. You can see we raised the ladder to get the water from up above. The home is going to be a total loss, unfortunately, so right now we are working on hot spots but keeping our firefighters a safe distance in case it does collapse.”
The fire is still under investigation.
"Everyone wanted to help and make sure no one was in the house," said a neighbor. "It's a tight-knit community, we all look out for each other. Materialistic things you can replace, but a life... you can't. Thank God they made it out okay."
Tuesday was a busy night, fire officials said. 10 minutes before they were called to the home on the northwest side, SAFD responded to a house fire on the south side. One person was pulled from the flames on West Hutchins Place, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Arrington said.
"We are so sorry for the family on the south side," a northwest side resident told KENS 5.
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