A major fire on San Antonio’s North Side Wednesday morning left two firefighters with minor injuries and drivers with headaches caused by closed streets.
>>READ MORE: 2 firefighters injured in fire at North Side apartment complex, SAFD says
The fire, which broke out after 5:30 a.m., burned through a building at the Santa Fe apartments on Blanco Road, south of Jackson Keller.
Although the apartment complex is vacant, crews still had to take a serious approach to putting it out.
“Those crews were operating under the guise that there was someone inside,” said Joseph Arrington, a public information officer for the San Antonio Fire Department. “Just because it’s boarded up and vacant from the outside doesn’t mean someone’s not seeking shelter there.”
Arrington said while searching the building, one firefighter fell through the floor of an upstairs apartment, which collapsed beneath his feet.
“A separate firefighter suffered minor burns to the hands. That firefighter has been transported for an evaluation at the hospital, as a precaution mainly,” he said.
Arrington said both injuries were considered minor, and the firefighters should recover.
It took hours for crews to finally extinguish the flames.
“The fire started, what, about three different times,” said Mercedes Harris, who works at a day care center nearby. “They’re still trying to get it down, and it keeps rising once they get it down.”
Harris and her co-workers had a clear view of the commotion from their windows.
Day care owner Christine White was stuck on the phones, fielding countless calls from concerned parents.
“I decided to open because as long as it’s not harming the kids,” White said.
But the Blanco Road closure made drop-offs hard.
“Dropping off their kids, they had to either park and walk them over here,” she said. “I understand all the safeness and everything. But it’s difficult because they have to go to work.”
Arrington said early on that fire crews would be working in the area all day.
At one point, there were more than 100 firefighters battling the fire.
However, as of noon, there were only a handful of fire trucks that remained at the scene.
Arrington said whenever a fire breaks out at an apartment complex, the fire department has to play it safe and send out extra units. He said in the event they are not needed, they can always be called off.
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