SAN ANTONIO – A fire in a vacant house that temporarily threatened other homes early Tuesday morning is not the first to put neighbors in danger.
People who live in the 600 block of Torreon Street told San Antonio firefighters their homes also were at risk in the recent past.
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The latest fire broke out after 1 a.m. Tuesday and sent flames and smoke dangerously close to an occupied home next door.
No one was hurt, but the fire destroyed the vacant home where it started.
Neighbors told firefighters that they have seen people going in and out of the house, and possibly living there without permission.
They said this was not the first time their homes had been threatened by a fire in a vacant house.
KSAT 12 News covered a fire in February of this year at another vacant home on Torreon Street, right next to the one that burned Tuesday.
At that time, firefighters reported having a difficult time extinguishing that fire due to boards that had covered the windows and doors.
Hours after they put out the latest fire, crews had to return to find the source of lingering smoke.
Due to the amount of damage, fire investigators had a difficult time isolating the exact cause of the latest fire.
This past summer, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood discussed what appeared to be a disturbing uptick in the number of fires at vacant structures.
Figures at that time showed a 29 percent increase in incidents like this.
Hood said at that time that the fire department was working with the city of San Antonio on a plan to reduce these fires.