SAN ANTONIO – Members of two families are trying to recover from a fire that destroyed the duplex they called home.
The fire broke out around 2 a.m. Friday, forcing eight people and a pet cat outdoors into frigid temperatures.
Bexar County firefighters say one resident had called them after noticing smoke in a garage in the 6600 block of Montgomery Drive.
They say it wasn’t long before there was fire, too.
“Shortly after we arrived, the flames broke through the roof,” said Chief Robert Hogan with Bexar County Emergency Services District, #10. “Once it did that, with the 20 mile an hour winds, it just completely ran across from one end to the other.”
Everyone on both sides of the duplex made it out safely.
“The neighbor that woke up to the smell of smoke went and got the other neighbors out of the house,” Hogan said.
With nowhere else to go, some of them stood around huddled in blankets while firefighters worked to save their homes.
However, because of the strong winds, Hogan says they were fighting a losing battled.
Both sides of the duplex were destroyed.
“Two families being affected. One which is three adults and one child, the other one is two adults, two children,” he said.
Hogan said he was arranging for them to stay in a hotel temporarily, but that the American Red Cross would be providing assistance.
Investigators with the Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office dug through the rubble, looking for the cause of the fire.
However, they have not released any information in regards to what they found.