SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Fire Department crews battled a fire at a large apartment building north of downtown.
Crews were called out around 3:23 p.m. Sunday to the 300 block of West Magnolia Avenue.
San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said the fire started in a unit on the second floor of the building and spread to the third.
Crews called a second alarm because of the manpower needed to fight the fire. They later upgraded the fire to a third alarm to relieve firefighters and perform a formal rehab, Hood said.
About 100 firefighters were called out to assist. Hood said there was a lot of physical firefighting and the heat and the fact that it was an older building made it harder to battle the blaze.
A woman, a dog and a cat were in the building at the time. A resident said her cat died in the fire. No injuries were reported and the building was cleared, Hood said.
The woman in the building at the time of the fire said she saw smoke coming out of her air conditioning unit while in her third-floor apartment. When she went outside, she said she noticed the flames were coming from the second floor.
There was extensive flame damage to the second and third floors of the building and water damage on the first floor.
Hood said it’s unknown what caused the fire and investigators will be looking into it.
Crew members will undergo a formal rehab, which includes a blood draw and a vitals check, before they are able to return to work.
Hood said the Fire Department would be at the scene of the fire for a while.