SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio firefighters are blaming a faulty water heater for a fire at a two-story home early Wednesday morning.
The fire was called in around 3 a.m. at the home in the 700 block of Marshall Street, not far from Interstate 10 just north of downtown.
According to Mark Black, Battalion Chief with the San Antonio Fire Department, the fire started in the back of the unoccupied home and could be seen from the outside of the building. The first firefighters on scene went inside to clear the building and found no one inside, Black said.
Firefighters were able to put out the flames so it did not spread to nearby houses. The flames did, however, spread up to the second floor of the building, eventually reaching the attic. The damage is estimated at $60,000.
Black said nobody lives at the home, which was built in 1945, but that it did have working utilities and that it was renovated multiple times.
The investigation into the fire is ongoing.