Fire marshal looking for cause of fire that chased family from their beds

Damage contained to bedroom where fire started

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office has begun investigating the cause of a fire that got a family out of their beds in the middle of the night.

The fire broke out after 2 a.m. in the 8300 block of Greenham in Northeast Bexar County.

Three people were sleeping inside the home at the time and all managed to escape.

“(They had) no smoke detectors,” said Fire Chief Robert Hogan with Bexar County Emergency Services District 10.

He said a man who was inside the bedroom where the fire appears to have started for some reason woke up first.

“(He) woke up the other residents. They evacuated the house,” Hogan said. “(They) tried to use a garden hose to put the fire out.”

Within about five minutes of receiving a 911 call, Bexar County firefighters had arrived on the scene.

They called for backup from several other agencies, including Windcrest and Converse.

“When the crew went interior, they found that one of the bedrooms was fully involved,” Hogan said. “They were able to contain the majority of the fire to that bedroom.”

Hogan says the heat of the fire was so intense that it melted the siding right off the front of the home.

Combined with the hot weather and humidity, it made things challenging for firefighters.

Some of them, Hogan said, had to be rotated out of service to recover.

A man who lives in the home had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.

Firefighters say he cut his hand on a window while trying to put out the fire before firefighters arrived.


About the Authors:

Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.

Tim has been a photojournalist and video editor at KSAT since 1998. He came to San Antonio from Lubbock, where he worked in TV and earned his bachelor's degree in Electronic Media and Communication from Texas Tech University. Tim has won a handful of awards and has earned a master's in Strategic Communication and Innovation from Tech as well.