SAN ANTONIO – A woman in her 60s safely escaped her home after it caught fire early Tuesday on the city's North Side.
The fire was reported around 2 a.m. in the 15500 block of Creekside Drive.
Firefighters said the fire started inside the garage and spread to the back of the home. They initially think the fire was caused by a space heater that ignited some of the woman's belongings in the densely packed one-story home.
Smoldering debris gave firefighters trouble for about two and a half hours. They had to pull individual pieces of material and objects from inside the home to the front yard and then douse them to make sure they didn't flare up again.
Marc Cunningham, who lives next door, said the woman knocked and asked his mother to call 911.
Cunningham took action after the woman, who lives alone, told him her three cats were missing.
With smoke billowing out of the home, Cunningham used his shirt sleeve to open his neighbor's front door.
"I wasn't sure if it was going to be hot, and I just kind of like, you know, called for the cats, but didn't see anything," Cunningham said.
Firefighters rescued two cats but couldn't find the third one.
A police officer took the woman to a hotel, where the American Red Cross paid for a room for her to spend the night.
Damage to the home was estimated at $20,000.