SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio fire investigators have been focusing on a barbecue grill as a possible cause of a fire at a South Side apartment building early Thursday.
Three members of a family, two adults and a child, were injured in the fire, which broke out around 3 a.m. in the 3400 block of Commercial Avenue.
“When our first crews got here on scene, they realized they had several victims coming out of the second floor,” said Capt. Kurt Owen with SAFD. “We also had an individual hanging off, out of a back window, that we were able to rescue.”
Owen said a man and child, who is about four years old, suffered burns in the fire.
The woman who was rescued also was rushed to a hospital for treatment of possible smoke inhalation.
Five other families in the building had to move quickly, too, to escape the fire.
“I heard banging on my door and it was the fire department, for everybody to get out. And I just saw the flames outside my window,” said Yolanda Zapata, who also lived on the second floor.
Zapata said after getting the unexpected wakeup call, she grabbed what she could and got out.
She said she had to duck to escape the fire, which was burning inches from her front door.
“My hair was loose. I was thinking my hair could catch fire,” she said.
A short time later, her worry centered around her four cats, which she believed were still inside her apartment. She said she had time to grab only one on the way out.
Eventually, though, she found all her missing pets alive.
Investigators, meanwhile, are still looking for the cause of the fire.
Owen said it appeared that it started on the balcony of the apartment where the injured family lived.
In the middle of that burned area, they found a barbecue grill, he said.
However, Owen said it was too soon to tell if that is what caused the fire.