The residents of 24 apartment units are displaced after a Sunday night blaze destroyed an entire three-story apartment building in the South Texas Medical Center.
The fire happened Sunday at 8:45 p.m. at The Frederick Apartments in Northwest San Antonio in the complex’s building five, which sits on a hill with elevation higher than others on the site. Fire crews struggled to get enough water to put out the fire out due to “extremely low” water pressure from nearby fire hydrants; and also struggled to control hot embers in the wind, according to the San Antonio Fire Department.
The SAFD said Monday that people in 20 apartment units were safely evacuated Sunday night, but the building was deemed a total loss. As of Monday afternoon, there are no injuries or fatalities reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to SAFD.
At the scene Sunday night, Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters fire crews had difficulty putting the fire out due to “ineffective” fire hydrants nearby. According to SAFD, private hydrants on the property and the San Antonio Water System hydrants on Gus Eckert Road had “extremely low pressure.”
“We never rely on the private hydrants,” said Woody Woodward, public information officer for SAFD. “However, SAWS is responsible for the main hydrants along the road.”
“Low water pressure and hydrants not operating were the main issues … along with a long, uphill [way] from the good hydrants on Fredericksburg Road,” he said.
SAWS has 10 fire hydrants near the Frederick, and maintains 45,166 total public fire hydrants throughout its service area, SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said. Each one maintains a 20 psi pressure as required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, she added. The hydrants were last inspected in October 2022, and are scheduled for another inspection in October.
Hayden said one of the 10 fire hydrants in the area was down when crews checked Monday morning, most likely after being hit by a car since the last time it was inspected, and that the nine others had sufficient water pressure. Hayden added that there was only one private hydrant with a fire hose still lying next to it that SAFD tried to use but was unable to.
“We need to note that multiple large pumper trucks simultaneously pulling water can cause a dip in pressure in any water service area, especially when they are moving water uphill and shooting the water to multilevel structures,” Hayden said.
The blaze happened on Gus Eckert Road, which is lined with at least two more large apartment complexes, a senior living center and a rehabilitation facility.
Hood said several people lost all their belongings in the fire.
Inside the office at the Frederick, donations including clothes, pillows and blankets already filled up the main lobby for the people displaced by the fire. The receptionist at the front desk said management was waiting for an inspector to provide an official head count for how many people are displaced, but confirmed that 24 units were destroyed.
On Monday morning, a fence was being installed along the perimeter of the building while a small group of firefighters huddled on the side of the building. Damage to the complex was obvious; burned wood was spread across the parking lot in front of the building and entire patios had collapsed.
People displaced by the fire were bused to temporary shelters, according to SAFD. Public information officer for the local chapter of the American Red Cross Delia Castillo said the organization had already provided shelter to nine families, and was helping 12 more on Monday. She said most of the residents that volunteers are assisting from the apartment fire are families.
Castillo said the Greater San Antonio Chapter of the American Red Cross will help people on a case-by-case basis in the days or weeks to come, depending on their needs, and will work with community partners to help them find permanent housing.
In the past month, Castillo said the organization worked on 29 fire displacement cases, which she said was a slight increase in cases involving apartment and home fires.
“Unfortunately, San Antonio is always hit with these home fires happening,” Castillo said. “Not only recently, but in general.”
In the meantime, the residents will get financial assistance from the Red Cross to stay in hotels and to replace things they may have lost in the fire, like food, medicines or eyeglasses.
Fire crews weren’t able to perform a full walk-through of the building due to collapse challenges and the lack of light in the area, but the SAFD spokesman said the team planned to conduct a secondary search Monday morning, depending on the conditions of the building.
They are hoping no one was harmed in the blaze.
“As far as the fire, no one would’ve survived the fire if they were [inside], but we’re going to make sure and in the light of day,” Hood said. “We’re not getting any reports of anyone, so that lessens our concern right now.”
