Five Killed in Texas Senior Citizen Apartment Complex

Just days after residents of the Wedgwood Senior Apartments made merry at their annual Christmas party, terror and tragedy struck when a three-alarm fire broke out early Sunday at the 11-story high-rise in Castle Hills.

Five people were killed, 10 were injured and roughly 100 more were evacuated — many in their slippers and pajamas in a cold rain — from the landmark complex at 6701 Blanco Road, south of Loop 410. In the aftermath, several described harrowing escapes amid the smoke and confusion.

“I tried to open the door, but it was jammed,” said an 87-year-old resident who asked not to be named. “I went to a window and opened it a little and began yelling for help.

“I was scared. The heat was so intense that the blinds began melting in the room. I yelled and yelled. The door was stuck, and finally somebody broke it in.”

The Castle Hills Fire Department first responded to the 6 a.m. blaze at the 50-year-old structure, which has three distinctive “wings” and is home to about 700 residents, officials said. Nearly 50 units from the San Antonio Fire Department followed, along with other emergency responders from around the area, including Balcones Heights, Leon Valley and Schertz.

“It’s the worst catastrophe in my knowledge to happen in Castle Hills,” said Tim Howell, mayor of the enclave of about 4,300.

Of the 10 injured, none were burned or in critical condition, authorities said. The cause of the fire is under investigation, they said. The identities of the five killed had not been released as of late Sunday.

The fire forced between 75 and 120 elderly residents — many of them nonambulatory — to be carried out by the approximately 150 firefighters on scene. Fire officials said one or two residents were plucked from balconies on upper floors with the aid of fire-truck platform ladders.

The fire largely gutted the third floor. Late Sunday afternoon, investigators could be seen through broken windows, inspecting the damage.

Christian Bove, a spokesman for San Antonio Fire Department, described the response to the fire as one of the largest in recent memory.

“The fire wasn't so (huge),” he said. “What made it so big was the number of residents and the number of mobility-impaired.”

Residents gave conflicting reports on whether the building had a working sprinkler system. And while the facility had a no-smoking policy, some residents said it was not always honored, and they voiced suspicion that smoking may have caused the blaze. No official, however, could confirm that theory Sunday.

Some residents of the upper floors described rescues by firefighters.

“It was overwhelming,” said Vivian Casanova, who declined to give her age. “We tried to come out, but the exit doors were jammed. Firefighters reached our floor and helped us out, and we were able to walk down as the firefighters went back (in) for more.”

Casanova said firefighters then handed her over to rescuers and she was led very slowly down nine flights of stairs.

“It was so terrifying,” she said.

Casanova said the sprinkler system was working on her floor.

Resident Tiffany Castanon, 24, said she heard the first alarm go off between 6 and 6:30 a.m. but initially didn’t take it seriously.

“I heard the first two alarms go off, then they turned off,” she said. “A lot of people are used to it being a false alarm. I thought for sure it was false, then the third alarm went off, and it stayed on.”

Castanon has lived at the apartment complex for about two years. She said that although it is for seniors, about 20 percent of the occupants are under age 50.

At first, people were orderly, walking down the stairs, she said. When she made it to her car, she saw the smoke coming out of the very top of the building and ladders stretching to the 11th floor penthouse for evacuations.

Throughout the day, anxious family members arriving at the gated complex were directed by police to Churchill High School’s cafeteria, where the evacuees were taken in VIA Metropolitan Transit buses. Firefighters worked to retrieve medications from the dwellings. Those still missing medications by today have been advised to go to Castle Hills City Hall after 8 a.m.

Officials are still trying to determine who was at the apartments. Early reports could not account for more than 200 residents, but some may have been away with relatives for the holidays, said Ken Jarvis, public information officer for the Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department.

“A lot of people were away,” he said. “That’s always good in something like this.”

Laura Jesse, a spokeswoman for the Bexar County fire marshal’s office, agreed that holiday visits were likely the reason for most of the unaccounted-for residents.

“We went through the rent roll and counted 216 residential units on the rent rolls that were residents,” she said, explaining that the building also contained a beauty salon, an insurance company and other businesses. “There were quite a few vacant units as well.”

Jesse said officials are still determining when residents can return to their homes but that the third floor is not habitable.

Castle Hills City Manager Diane Pfeil said she was not sure when her city conducted its last safety inspection at the facility or what the results were but that she would know those results in a day or two.

The complex is managed by Entrada Management Services, a unit of Entrada Partners of Los Angeles. On the website for Entrada Partners, Reuben Berman and Justin Schuman are identified as the principals of the company, which claims a commercial property portfolio of $50 million.

According to Bexar County property records, the senior living complex is owned by two entities: Wedgewood Senior Apartments LLC and Bellamar Texas LLC, both of which list the same street address in Los Angeles as Entrada Partners.

Calls to the management company were not returned Sunday.

Staff Writers John MacCormack, John W. Gonzalez, Chris Quinn, Elizabeth Zavala, William Pack, Tyler White and Jacob Beltran and News Researcher Mike Knoop contributed to this report.

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