By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
A San Felipe family lost their home and two dogs at about noon Monday in a house fire that swept through their duplex in minutes.
The duplex, at 103 Noriega St, quickly burned as four Del Rio Fire Department vehicles rolled onto the scene.
“I was talking to my neighbor and she smelled smoke and said, “‘What’s on fire?,”’ said Rita Flores, a neighbor. “About that time, we heard a boom and then another boom.”
Neighbors’ and family members’ biggest concern was a special
needs 15-year-old who lived in one of the units.
According to Jose Rodarte, who owned the home and whose daughter lived on the north end of the duplex and sister-in-law lived in the other, they were devastated over the losses but happy his granddaughter got out. The 15-year-old is in a vegetative state.
Valerie Rios, another family member who lived across the street from them, heard the booms and rushed over to try and ensure her cousin got out of the house okay.
“I went in and there was smoke everywhere, so I knew where her bed was and I found her,” said Valerie Rios, a cousin. “My aunt couldn’t pick her up, but I could.”
Rios rushed her out of the home, and she said she went back in trying to find the dogs.
“They got scared and they hid,” Rios said. Family members stood behind the fire trucks and took turns holding one of the two Mexican Chihuahuas who had died.
Marisol Rodarte, the mother of the 15-year-old, said she was relieved as she watched firefighters pour water onto what had once been her home.
“I’m so grateful my daughter is okay,” she said. “It’s my dogs that really suffered.”
However, Rodarte had a major concern that she wasn’t sure how she’d handle it.
“My daughter’s medical equipment, her special bed, everything is gone,” she said. “I guess I’m going to see if I can bunk in with my mom. I guess we’ll have to improvise with her bed because she had to sleep kind of sitting up. Maybe we’ll put pillows under her.”
Captain James Howley, a Del Rio Fire Department shift captain who led the fire department’s efforts, said they were trying to find the family help.
“We reached out to the American Red Cross,” he said. “When we are done, they’ll come in and try to help where they can.”
Howley said the investigation into the fire is just beginning.
The writer can be reached at JoelALangton@gmail.com .
