SAN ANTONIO – A spare refrigerator was blamed for a fire that destroyed a home Monday in the Government Hill neighborhood on the city's East Side.
The fire was reported shortly after 4 a.m. in the 200 block of Bee Street.
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Firefighters said the fire appeared to have started in a secondary refrigerator in a front room.
Lashanda McCloud, who lives in the home, said that minutes before the fire started, she was awakened by her alarm clock. Soon after, she got a more startling wakeup call from relatives, including her mother.
"When she was yelling at me, I just assumed she was trying to get me up for work," she said. "But my family member who takes me to work, he was banging on the door because he had seen the fire."
McCloud and five other people managed to escape safely. Her 74-year-old mother breathed in some of the smoke and was examined at the scene by paramedics.
"She's OK. She had EMS already check on her and everything, but she's all right," McCloud said. "It was flaming up by the refrigerator in the kitchen area, so after that, next thing you know, it just started escalating."
The fire caused major damage to the home. Firefighters said nearly every room was damaged by smoke or flames.
McCloud said that although there were six people in the home at the time, only three live there.
She said they rented the home and are wondering what to do now.
"I need another residency. Right now, we're just, we're in limbo," she said.
Workers with the American Red Cross showed up at the scene later in the morning to help the family with some necessities, including clothing and food.