Aug. 03--Eighteen units comprising 70 firefighters battled flames and smoke on the East Side on Friday night when a 47,000-square-foot warehouse caught on fire.
No one was injured, but the early estimate was that about a quarter of the building was damaged.
The warehouse, in the 3300 block of East Commerce Street, is used to store upholstery. Flames began pouring out the front and billowing dark smoke out of the rest of the building about 7 p.m., said Mike Walsh of the San Antonio Fire Department.
The fire had been contained shortly after 8 p.m. and the damage was assessed as arson investigators were awaited. No foul play was suspected, Walsh said, but the size of the structure called for assistance in determining the cause of the blaze.
Early on, the building was declared an "unsafe structure" over Fire Department scanners, and firefighters were ordered to "go no more than 100 feet in." Burning upholstery significantly reduced visibility.
"Some units recorded they couldn't see their hands in front of their face," Walsh said. "The foam insulation makes heavy thick smoke."
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