SAN ANTONIO – People in a neighborhood north of downtown are feeling the loss after a fire burned through a discount store early Friday morning.
City crews then tore down what was left of the building, located in the 2000 block of N. Main right next to San Antonio College.
The fire broke out shortly before 1 a.m.
However, San Antonio firefighters believe the flames and smoke may have begun simmering long before that.
“Crews went in and tried to get a stop on it,” said Joseph Arrington, a public information officer for SAFD. “It had a quite a bit of a head start on us. It burned unnoticed for quite a while.”
In fact, Arrington says, there were flames burning through the roof, causing it to partially collapse, when firefighters arrived.
They had to fight the fire from the outside for their own safety, he said.
Shortly before 5:30 a.m., backup for those firefighters arrived in the form of city with construction equipment.
They began chipping away at the edge of the building, presumably to allow firefighters easier access to areas where the fire was still burning.
Within a few minutes, the entire front of the building crumbled loudly to the ground.
The workers then continued tearing down the structure until there was a pile of rubble.
Neighbors continued streaming into the area to capture the sight on their cell phones.
“I was dropping a friend off,” said Laura Perry-Samaniego. “Then I saw was used to be the store, and it was such a shock. So sad.”
Perry-Samaniego had been a frequent customer long before the Dollar Tree was open.
She said she had visited numerous businesses that had occupied that space during the past four decades.
“An old-fashioned five-and-dime. It had the old wooden floors,” she said.
Now the building’s floors, doors, walls, and ceiling all are history.
The loss, according to neighbors, will have a big impact on them. Dollar Tree is one of the few stores in that area.
“Everybody loves Dollar Tree, and it’s a sad thing,” said Perry-Samaniego.
It’s also a big challenge for fire investigators.
They will have to sort through the mountain of rubble to try to find out what caused the fire.