SAN ANTONIO – Homeless squatters may have been to blame for a fire that destroyed an abandoned building just north of downtown.
The fire broke out shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday inside a vacant home located in the 300 block of E. Euclid.
"It was boarded up on most of the windows and doors, and there were some plywood windows that had been pried off," said Capt. Sam Elizondo, with the San Antonio Fire Department.
Elizondo said it appeared someone had gotten inside and started the fire.
When firefighters arrived, they found the building engulfed in flames.
Firefighters became concerned that the entire structure might collapse.
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Eventually, crews were able to put out the fire, then called in arson investigators.
"The transients and the homeless people make their way into these structures and basically squat," Elizondo said. "We’ve found that they start a lot of fires, whether it be from the cold, trying to keep warm, or from makeshift cooking hotplates."
When those fires get out of control, it creates a dangerous situation for firefighters and the community, Elizondo said.
In March, a firefighter suffered minor injuries when he fell through the roof while battling a fire at the nearby Essence nightclub.
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Ricardo Herrera, 35, was arrested a few weeks later in connection with the fire.
Herrera reportedly told investigators that he started the fire outside the nightclub, located on Lexington near N. Main, in order to keep warm.
A fire at another vacant building in the area in February was also attributed to homeless people building a fire to keep warm.
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It destroyed a structure off San Pedro Avenue that had been as a haunted house in the past.
"It's just one of those things where it does put our first responders in danger," Elizondo said.
So far, there have not been any serious injuries in connection to the fires.
However, firefighters fear it's only a matter of time.