SAN ANTONIO – Fire swept through part of a crowded yard just northwest of downtown Tuesday morning, destroying a minivan and damaging a mobile home.
Firefighters say no one was inside either when the fire broke out around 5 a.m.
“There was a minivan on fire, fully involved, as well as a lot of privacy fence and it was impinging actually on a trailer home,” said Lt. James Allerkamp with the San Antonio Fire Department.
Van fire damages vacant mobile home, trailer just northwest of downtown
Fire crews quickly got to work, fighting through a smoky haze to put out the flames.
Allerkamp says they had some trouble getting equipment through the yard.
“There are trailers, other vehicles,” he said, “so we weren’t really 100 percent sure what all was on fire when we got here.”
Arriving with them were members of a newly-formed team of fire investigators.
The new unit, which went online this past Saturday, was designed to take some of the workload off arson investigators.
The ten member team will be looking into the causes of non-criminal fires, as well as working with other units within the San Antonio Fire Department.
“Before, a lot of time on scene, crews would have to make those decisions themselves and decide do we call arson or not,” said Battalion Chief Wesley West.
The investigators spent the majority of their time at this scene, carefully searching the area in and around the minivan.
However, they are still looking for the exact cause of the fire.