SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio firefighters believe an arsonist has been targeting the same vacant Southwest Side building repeatedly.
The latest fire happened just before 8 a.m. Monday.
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Fire crews found flames showing from what used to be Tricolor Auto, located in the 2700 block of Southwest Military.
“It’s been vacant for about a year. This is the third time that it’s been on fire in last month,” said Battalion Chief Russell Johnson with SAFD. “We have real bad problem with homeless people living in it, trying to stay in it.”
Johnson said a witness reported seeing a man leaving the building just before the flames broke out.
The building should have been unoccupied at the time.
“The owners came from the last time and they did a really good job boarding everything up, thought they had it secured to keep everybody out of it. But when we got here they had pulled the doors and stuff off,” Johnson said.
Fortunately, no one has been injured in any of the fires.
In the latest fire, firefighters were concerned for a while that roof might be unstable or that the front wall could collapse.
He said it would be up to the city of San Antonio to decide what to do with the structure. For now, though, firefighters plan to rope off the area in the hope of keeping out trespassers.
Arson investigators also have been looking for clues that might lead them to the fire bug.