5 die in senior apartment fire in Texas

SAN ANTONIO — Five people were killed and three others were hospitalized in a three-alarm fire that broke out Sunday morning at the Wedgwood Senior Apartments, officials at the scene said.

Ten other residents of the Wedgwood Apartments remained hospitalized and others were unaccounted for Sunday evening, according to Bexar County Fire Marshal spokeswoman Laura Jesse.

Firefighters evacuated the building for people 55 and older by carrying some elderly residents out windows and down ladder trucks. Around 75 people were evacuated.

A total of 150 firefighters from San Antonio and six other fire departments responded to the blaze, which was reported shortly after 6 a.m., San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove said.

Witnesses said smoke poured from the back of the building, which is in the Castle Hills area north of downtown.

The cause of the three-alarm fire at the 11-story high-rise is under investigation, but it appears to have originated on the third floor, Jesse said. The fire, now extinguished, left some "significant damage," she said.

Not all of the 216 residents listed on the building's rent rolls have been accounted for yet, Jesse said. The building also has commercial tenants.

About 150 residents were taken by city buses to Churchill High School, and some family members waited at a makeshift shelter in the cafeteria for word of their loved ones. Others residents were taken to a hotel.

Property manager Entrada Management Services was arranging for the residents' stays "if they don't have anywhere else to go," Jesse said.

The names of those killed in the fire have not been released.

"After looking at the floors, it's amazing we did not have more loss of life," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said at a news conference, adding that the smoke and fire were "communicated" throughout the building. He also said the building's third floor was gutted and the doors were charred.

Some residents walked down many flights of stairs, others were carried out, and others were evacuated down ladder truckers from the balconies of their apartments, Bove said.

Tax records indicate the 260,000-square-foot building was built in 1965.

Castle Hills was the main fire department responding, joined by Balcones Heights, Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer, Leon Valley, Bulverde and Acadian Ambulance Services.

This is the second high-rise fire in just a few weeks. San Antonio Fire Department went through high-rise fire training not long before the first fire.