SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Fire Department hasn't yet released an official cause of a fire that put a couple out of their home, but the victims, both in their 70s, said they think they know what caused the fire.
They think a firework is to blame in a recent string of bad luck for the husband and wife of 47 years.
"I'm a believer," the couple's son, Antonio Garcia Jr., said. "God always has a plan. We have, our church family praying for them. I'm just grateful to God that my parents got out in time."
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Firefighters said when they got to Montgomery Drive off of New World around 9 p.m., flames were shooting through the roof and winds made it too dangerous to go inside at first.
The roof collapsed, and the couple's four dogs didn't make it.
Misfortune seems to have followed the couple.
Before the fire, they were still dealing with the aftermath of a small tornado that hit their neighborhood last February. It ripped holes in the roof.
"A church had [come] out and put a tarp on the roof to prevent the leaking, and it was coming off," Garcia said.
Hearing fireworks Monday night, which are allowed year-round in Bexar County outside of city limits, Garcia's parents believe a bottle rocket landed on the tarp and started the flames, Garcia said.
"Possibly a cause, but still undetermined at this point," Bexar County Emergency Service District 10 Fire Chief Robert Hogan said. "(The cause) will be under investigation with the Fiire Marshal's Office."
The county said the damage to the home and its contents is around $141,000. A look inside the home the next day showed the entire house and everything inside destroyed.
Garcia said his parents did not have homeowner's insurance on the house they had lived in since 1988.
"So now, (they) got to start all over again," Garcia said.