SAN ANTONIO — A quick-moving fire hit an apartment complex off Babcock on the city’s northside this morning.
San Antonio Fire officials said firefighters responded to the call at the Marquis at Crown Ridge Apartments around 6:30 a.m.
The fire destroyed the apartment’s leasing office, no other buildings were affected.
Joe Arrington with SAFD said low water pressure prevented crews from aggressively fighting the flames.
“Firefighters can’t even do their job. Whenever something like this fails, that’s terrifying,” said Robert Ocampo, an apartment resident.
Arrington said the record-setting cold this week has created obstacles for first responders.
“It's a challenge, but the only thing to blame is Mother Nature,” said Arrington.
Last night, frozen fire hydrants sparked a challenge for firefighters when they battled a northeast side house fire.
“We're having to rely on our tank water more or go in search for where that water is so that we can shuttle it back and forth,” said Arrington.
The lack of water isn’t the roadblock first responders are facing.
“When you see closed highways or closed roads, they're not just closed to the public, they're closed to us as well,” said Arrington.
Icy road conditions posing another challenge.
“Last night, we had some challenges getting up hills on the far north side, and the fastest thing we could do was park at the bottom of the hill and go on foot,” said Arrington.
Arrington said fire crews have responded to 54 structure fires from midnight to 1 p.m. on Wednesday. On any other day, they average eight to 10 calls in a 24-hour-period.
“So far since midnight last night we are at 1,100 calls for service, so we are on pace for another record-setting day,” said Arrington. “Everyone's tired. That's just the reality of the work. We're operating about four times our normal capacity.”
But despite the weather-related obstacles, firefighters are still going above and beyond.
“Nothing's going to stop us from getting to you. It just may take us a little while. We may have to get creative with how we get there,” said Arrington.