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San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood on Monday reported five deaths in the city's deadliest fire in a decade.
Saturday's house fire on Winding Oak, near Classen Road and south of Loop 1604 on the Northeast Side on Saturday, left one dead at the scene. Four others were hospitalized and later died.
Hood said the blaze took the lives of two girls, 6 and 11, a 12-year-old boy, and two women, ages 29 and 51.
The exact cause of the fire was under investigation, but it was not suspicious. It started in the garage of the two story home.
Hood called on all San Antonians to make sure all their home smoke alarms work.
"Homes should have one alarm," he advised. "One in each bedroom and located outside bedrooms in hallways as well. And it's really important, if you have a second story, it needs to be on all levels of a home."
The home on Winding Oak only had one working alarm upstairs, Hood added.
He explained that the fire killed a generation of the family and left firefighters devastated. He said many firefighters gave their own children a hug afterwards and checked smoke detectors in their own homes.
He said finding this many victims in a burning home is rare, even for a veteran firefighter.
"A lot of people are feeling the same way," he said. "It's like something you go on that you just don't expect to see and then you don't expect to see in that number of victims that you are pulling out."
The sole survivor was described as a grandfather in his 70's. He was hospitalized in critical condition. Hood said the department's prayers were with him.
The previous deadliest fire in San Antonio was 2014's boarding house fire that killed four people.
