SAN ANTONIO – A fire on the Southwest Side destroyed one home and damaged another, displacing at least one person, according to the San Antonio Fire Department. But it appears he may have been an unwelcome guest in the first place.
Firefighters were called to the 6100 block of Lawn Valley Drive near Loop 410 and Old Pearsall Road on Tuesday afternoon and arrived to find the home engulfed in flames, SAFD Battalion Chief Brad Pool said.
Crews worked to keep it from spreading to the neighboring homes, though one sustained damaged to its eaves and power box.
Pool said a man who was at the home at the time of the fire with “a couple” of dogs got out safely.
The man, Eddie Sambrano, said he believed the fire started because of a heater, which he thought the dogs kicked a blanket over.
“I was in the couch sleeping. That’s when it caught fire,” Sambrano said.
Sambrano said he had permission from his son to stay at the home, though he was not sure what his son’s arrangement was with the property owners.
However, a woman claiming to be the homeowner told KSAT that Sambrano was squatting on her property. She denied renting out the home or allowing anyone to stay in it.
While Sambrano said the heater was powered by electricity, both he and the purported homeowner said there was no power to the house.
People who were with the alleged homeowner at the scene later told KSAT that CPS Energy had said the meter had been tampered with.
SAFD said fire investigators were at the scene.