SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio firefighters say a Southwest Side home where a woman died in a fire early Wednesday had no working smoke detectors.
They say they found the 82-year-old dead inside the home, located in the 200 block of Ross Avenue.
RELATED: Woman killed in overnight house fire on Southwest Side, SAFD says
The woman had collapsed on the floor of her bedroom, apparently while trying to escape, firefighters said.
When fire crews arrived just before 2 a.m., they found flames and smoke coming from the roof of the home.
A neighbor told KSAT 12 News off-camera that he had called 911 after waking up to the sound of his dogs barking.
He says he looked outside his window and could see flames on the back side of the house.
Within minutes, the neighbor said, the fire was spreading quickly across the roof.
Firefighters eventually were able to knock down the fire and keep it from spreading to any other homes.
As of late Wednesday morning, staff at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said they were still working to make a positive identification on the woman who died.
Her death comes on the heels of another deadly fire in the city.
A total of five people died as the result of a fire at on the North Side of town, on a street called Winding Oak.
A sixth person who was pulled from that home, a man in his 70s, remains in the hospital.
Firefighters at the scene of that fire initially said that home did not have any working smoke detectors.
However, in a news conference Monday, Chief Charles Hood corrected that narrative, saying that there was one working smoke detector on the second floor of that two-story house.
Hood stressed that a home that size should have more.
“Homes should have one alarm in each bedroom, and located on the outside of bedrooms and hallways, as well,” he told reporters.
The fire department used the opportunity to make the public aware of a program in which they offer free smoke detectors to those in need.
The SAFD said that due to the recent deaths they are now receiving a large amount of requests for the smoke alarm installs.
The SAFD is now accepting donations of smoke alarms, that are new and in original packaging. Donations should be made during standard business hours at all SAFD fire stations, except for Station 23 at the airport.
A spokesman also directed people to the department’s website, FireSafeSA.com, for more safety tips.
After the deadly fire Wednesday morning, one neighbor told KSAT 12 News that he will immediately update his safety plan by installing new smoke detectors throughout his home and removing burglar bars from his windows.