What's the latest on the winter storm in San Antonio?
San Antonio Fire Department is “stretched to the max” during the ongoing and extreme weather conditions.
"On an average day we get about 5-600 calls into our center. With those calls, say it's a house fire automobile accident, we're going to send multiple units to that incident," said Fire Chief Charles Hood "So for that day (Monday), we had 2,604 unit responses, and a lot of those are attributed to motor vehicle accidents. A lot of people were slipping and falling out on the ice. And then we had several house fires."
The extreme weather has prompted the fire department to offer new services, like delivering refills to oxygen tanks. Hood also said the trucks have been outfitted with gravel in salt to reach residents in hard-to-reach areas.
Efforts to give shelter to San Antonio’s unhoused population went into overdrive in preparation for freezing temperatures and have continued as the winter emergency progressed.
Billy Mahone, director of community engagement for the South Alamo Regional Alliance said that emergency providers have expanded existing and created new shelters to assist those without housing.
“Whether it be your traditional homeless service providers expanding their intake or the faith based community opening up their doors, there is current availability to take in even more people. But hundreds of people that were previously unsheltered have been given shelter during this difficult time,” said Mahone.
CPS officials say they will try to minimize the impact of surge pricing on the consumer. District 7 representative Ana Sandoval said that the City Council will work with CPS on this.
"We will do and we will work with CPS to ensure that the impact of the consumers is going to be minimal. It is entirely unrealistic to expect that any household would be able to bear that burden," she said.
Guests:
- Joey Palacios, local government reporter for TPR News
- Camille Phillips, education reporter for TPR News
- Chief Charles Hood, San Antonio Fire Department
- Billy Mahone, director of community engagement for the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless
- Ana Sandoval, District 7 San Antonio City Council representative
"The Source" is a live call-in program airing Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. Leave a message before the program at (210) 615-8982. During the live show, call 833-877-8255, email thesource@tpr.org or tweet @TPRSource.
*This interview was recorded on Thursday, February 18.