SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A house fire on San Antonio’s North Side may have taken an even heavier toll on people in that neighborhood had it not been for a couple of passersby.
One neighbor, whose home was threatened by the Monday morning fire, said she woke up to a couple of newspaper delivery people banging on her door.
The neighbor, who did not reveal her name, told KSAT 12 News the pair was driving by the 100 block of Brightwood Place when they noticed the flames and then began trying to alert everyone in the area.
The neighbor said she and her family ran from their home as flames burned toward her backyard fence.
The fire, which broke out after 4:30 a.m., was coming from the house next door.
San Antonio firefighters arrived on the scene within minutes and learned that the couple who lives in the home was still inside.
They found the man, who is in his late 60s, suffering from injuries, possibly burns.
He was rushed to a hospital for treatment.
At some point later, firefighters pulled his wife, also in her late 60s, from the home, but they could not do anything to save her.
They also found the couple’s three dogs, dead and still inside the home.
For a time, firefighters feared there could be a third person, a relative of the couple, also trapped inside.
However, they later learned he was not there after all.
The home sustained extensive damage throughout it.
Firefighters called in an arson team to investigate the cause of the fire.