SAN ANTONIO – A man and his teenage son safely escaped a fire in their Northeast Side home, which fire investigators believe may have been started by an overloaded electrical outlet.
San Antonio firefighters responded to the home in the 4700 block of Misty Run -- just down the street from Madison High School -- around 4 a.m. Thursday.
They said when they arrived, the homeowner and his teenage son were outside already, trying to keep the damage to a minimum.
"They were alerted to the smoke. Both of them got out," said Battalion Chief Neal Ague. "They started extinguishing the fire with a garden hose from outside."
Firefighters were able to knock down any remaining flames within about five minutes. The smoke and heat from the fire, though, caused damage throughout the home, Ague said.
"Once (firefighters) opened the door to the room of origin, of course, all that heat and smoke transferred out. So we had things that melted in the living room, " he said.
Ague said the heat also melted a smoke detector outside the bedroom where the fire apparently started.
Although they believe it originated in an unoccupied bedroom, firefighters found an overcrowded electrical outlet in that room, Ague said.
"There were a lot of extension cords tied into that one unit, which is where the fire started," Ague said.
It's a reminder, he said, that too many plugs in one outlet can power up a lot of problems.