SAN ANTONIO – A man is being treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation after San Antonio firefighters and police pulled him from a vacant building that had filled with smoke early Thursday morning.
According to firefighters, the man had set several small fires inside the building, located in the 3200 block of Broadway.
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Workers at a nearby business had noticed something out of the ordinary and called 911, bringing fire crews to the scene around 5:30 a.m.
“(Firefighters) forced entry and found a homeless person in there who had started a fire, who ultimately had barricaded himself into the bathroom,” said Capt. Sam Elizondo with SAFD. “I don’t know if he simply just locked the door.”
Firefighters were able to put out the fires rather quickly.
Getting the man out of the building, though, was a different story.
They had to call in San Antonio police for help.
Even then, firefighters say, the drama didn’t end.
“He still was actively trying to start a fire, or set another fire,” Elizondo said. “He set two fires in the structure that were very small.”
The damage to the building turned out to be minimal, firefighters said.
The man, however, suffered smoke inhalation and had to be taken to a hospital for evaluation of both his body and mental health.
Signs on the building where the fires were found show it, at one time, housed Tomatillo’s Mexican restaurant.
It has been vacant for some time and had boards on its windows and doors.
A woman who identified herself as part of the property management team told KSAT 12 News that trying to keep people out of the empty building has been an ongoing struggle.
She said in the recent past, people have stolen metal fixtures from inside the building and left behind items, including mattresses and tents.
Figures show that SAPD has received only four calls during the past year for burglaries or suspicious people at that location.