SAN ANTONIO – Update: A 38-year-old man who died in A Northwest Side apartment fire has been identified as Gary Edward Davis, according to Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office.
The Medical Examiner said Davis’ died of smoke inhalation and other health complications.
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Original: An arson team is investigating the cause of a fire in a Northwest Side apartment where a man was found dead.
San Antonio firefighters answered the call, which initially was for a fire, around 4 a.m. Monday.
Inside the apartment, located in the 9200 block of Dartbrook Drive, they found a man unconscious in a bedroom.
Firefighters attempted to perform CPR on him, but they could not save him.
He was pronounced dead a short time later.
Fire crews say they found more smoke than flames inside the home.
A neighbor told KSAT12 he called 911 after noticing smoke pouring into his home through a vent, then hearing a smoke alarm going off inside the apartment next door.
He says when he went to knock on the door of that home, he realized it already was open.
The neighbor says he made several attempts to enter the apartment and search it, but the thick smoke drove him back.
No one else was injured by the fire but firefighters eventually evacuated the entire building.
They say some of the smoke spread into several other apartments causing minor damage.
Those residents later were allowed to go back into their homes although the building’s electricity had been shut off.
Along with arson and fire investigators, there was an unusually heavy police presence at the scene of the fire.
More than half a dozen San Antonio police officers along with crime scene investigators showed up and remained at the scene for several hours.