The news of a woman’s death during a fire in her West Side home early Friday is hitting hard among her neighbors.
San Antonio firefighters found the woman after responding to a 911 call just before 2 a.m. in a first-floor room of her home in the 8900 block of Mansfield.
“It’s my next-door neighbor,” said Jasmine Warren, speaking through tears. “She’s my mom’s age, so this could happen to anyone.”
Warren had somehow slept through the commotion of fire trucks rushing to her street.
She got the news about her neighbor several hours later.
“I didn’t hear anything. I mean, seriously, I didn’t hear anything,” she said.
Firefighters said it appears the woman was overcome by the fire, which likely had been smoldering for hours.
They said the home contained “hoarding conditions” that made it difficult for crews to enter the home quickly and put water on the fire.
A report released later said they found the woman partially covered by some of the items in her home.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released any information about the woman yet.
Warren is disappointed that she didn’t get to know her neighbor better.
“We would try to, you know, help her out. We did approach her. We did knock (on) the door,” Warren said. “She didn’t want anything to do with people.”
Investigators are still trying to identify the cause of the fire.
The fire department, meanwhile, is urging people to visit its webpage for tips on staying safe.