A massive fire at an apartment complex in San Antonio, Texas burned for 14 hours Thursday night as firefighters discovered that nearby hydrants were empty.
Water outages from a snowstorm and record low temperatures caused Texas to struggle to find clean drinking water and left many critical fire hydrants in the state without water. Thousands of Texans are still without power.
The apartment building in San Antonio started burning around 1:00 PM Thursday and collapsed later that night, ABC News reported. Once firefighters realized that private fire hydrants near the building were empty, 15 water tender trucks were brought in and took turns filling up with water from public fire hydrants around 2,000 feet away, officials said. (RELATED: Chilling Video Appears To Show Tons Of Abandoned Vehicles In Austin, Texas)
Firefighters struggled with ‘no water’ in the fire hydrants while battling this apartment fire in San Antonio, Texas. pic.twitter.com/pEQ6DJOcjl
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 19, 2021
Each truck’s water supply – between 2,000 and 3,000 gallons – was depleted in minutes. 13 different fire departments arrived at the scene to help put out the blaze.
“When we tried to draw water from hydrant on the building, it was dry,” said Bexar Bulverde Fire Department chief Jerry Bialick according to the report. NBC News reported that the fire hydrants were frozen. Water came back on in the area Friday afternoon.
Bialick told ABC News that “there’s not much left” of the apartment complex, saying, “There’s nothing salvageable.”
The fire started minutes after residents were told to turn off their water heaters, KSAT News reported. The Bexar Bulverse Fire Department organized shuttles to take people living in the 40-unit apartment building to a local high school and hotel for shelter. (RELATED: Texas Mayor Reportedly Resigns After Calling Residents ‘Lazy’ During Mass Power Outages)
Firefighters were on the scene overnight Thursday and extinguished the main part of the fire around 2:30 AM Friday morning. As of Friday afternoon, crews were still working to put out hot spots in the apartment building.
There were reportedly no injuries as a result of the fire. Around 130 people were evacuated, according to the report.