By: Gabriella Ybarra, Ricardo Delgado
Source: San Antonio Express-News(TNS)
Jul. 22—Three people are dead and three are hospitalized after a fire erupted in the garage of a North Side home, officials said Saturday.
First responders received a call about a home on fire around 3 a.m. Saturday. During the call, the sounds of people screaming could be heard in the background, Fire Chief Charles Hood said.
When firefighters arrived, they saw flames in the garage and smoke billowing from the two-story home in the 16600 block of Winding Oak, he said.
First responders who kicked in the front door heard screams from inside, the fire chief said.
"We went immediately" to rescue the residents, Hood said.
Firefighters found three children upstairs and three adults downstairs. All six were able to get out, but one woman died at the scene, Hood said.
The other five people were sent to the hospital, including the three children; however, an adult and a child later died at the hospital, Fire Department spokesperson Joe Arrington said. All three deaths were because of smoke inhalation, he said.
Arrington said no working smoke detectors were found in the home.
In the light of the day, the damage was visible.
The garage was blackened, and a melted hatchback was parked in the ruins. The charred skeleton of an exercise machine was left on the driveway.
Most of the home's exterior was unblemished by the fire, save for a few black and burned bricks on the garage wall. An American flag flew by the battered front door.
The fire left nearby homes untouched.
Erik Mata, 35, lives two houses down from the site of the blaze. He didn't hear or smell the fire and smoke while he slept but heard the dozens of firefighters combating it.
The tragic deaths have him making plans to protect his household. His home, which he thinks is around 30 years old, currently doesn't have any smoke detectors in it. He plans on installing some soon.
"I don't know why we never thought about that," Mata said. "The beeping would definitely give you more time to react."
Hood said a team would be sent to the neighborhood this weekend to check that other homes in the area have smoke detectors.
Officials have not released the identities of the people who were inside the home at the time of the fire, but Mata said he often spoke with Fernando Valadez, who frequently was outside taking care of yardwork. Public records list a Fernando Valadez, 75, as the owner of the property.
Mata said Valadez lived in the home with his wife, two daughters and grandchildren.
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte stopped by the neighborhood and talked to neighbors driving through.
"This is sort of the first catastrophe that's happened since I've been in office here in District 10," Whyte said. "To have it be somewhere where I was literally just knocking on doors a few months ago is sort of jarring."
Whyte said he doesn't specifically remember knocking on Valadez's door.
Mark Applegate, 67, lives in a nearby neighborhood and has walked past Valadez's home every day for the past eight years. He'd wave to Valadez as he walked by and occasionally stopped to talk to him in the last three years.
Applegate said he was "horrified" as he walked past the burnt home Saturday morning.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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