SAN ANTONIO – A man who died as a result of a house fire early Wednesday morning may have been disoriented and overcome by the smoke, according to San Antonio firefighters.
Fire crews found him in a bathroom toward the back of the home, wedged in an area near a bathtub.
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They had received their first calls about the fire in the 1600 block of San Angelo around 4:30 a.m. and found flames coming from the single-story home.
“While they were working on that, we had fire all along the back, spreading to the front. They did locate one victim inside,” said Battalion Chief Mark Trevino with SAFD.
The man, who was in his 40s, appeared to be suffering from smoke inhalation and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance, firefighters said.
He died a short time later.
Firefighters, meanwhile, continued battling the fire which caused damage throughout the home.
Although they were working under the rainy skies, the weather seemed to hurt more than it helped, Trevino said.
He said it created a situation where crews on the scene, as well as those still arriving, had reduced visibility.
“All the smoke is held down by the rain and then you’re worried about people walking all in the street,” he said. “Then you have the units arriving.”
Still, no one else was hurt. Trevino said there were two other people in the home when the fire broke out, but they escaped safely on their own.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.