SAN ANTONIO – Arson investigators believe a local man’s main form of transportation — a motorized mobility chair — is what sparked a house fire that led to his death.
In a statement from the San Antonio Fire Department’s public information office, spokesman Woody Woodward said investigators stressed that they did not know specifically what malfunctioned in the chair, which they also referred to as a “scooter.” However, he said they believed it was to blame for the fire.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office was still working to positively identify the man who was killed. Staff members said he was 68 years old.
The fire broke out after 11 a.m. Tuesday inside his home in the 2700 block of Christian Drive.
Firefighters said they found the victim in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher nearby. He was taken to a hospital where he later died.
Word of his death spread through the Southeast Side neighborhood where he lived, leaving people who knew him devastated.
“Just the way that it happened, it’s sad. It’s very sad,” said Leslie Gill, who has lived in the house next door for the past 25 years.
Gill was out at the time when the fire broke out, but came home to see firefighters battling the flames at her neighbor’s home.
She said her exchanges with the man who died had been brief, mainly due to health problems that limited his mobility.
“When he came outside, he was friendly,” Gill said. “Occasionally, we’d chat about the yard or whatever.”
Still, the idea of his death had her fighting back tears.
Bular Swain, who lives across the street, considered the victim to be family.
“As a matter of fact, his mom and my grandmother went to school together,” Swain said. “He was a very funny, friendly man and we are going to miss him.”
Parked outside the now-charred home was a hearse and limousine. Neighbors said they were leftovers from the victim’s former career in the funeral business.
Sadly now, those neighbors are preparing themselves to say goodbye to him.