BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – With thick smoke and flames all around her, Genesis Garcia raced toward her home on Big Leaf Drive on Tuesday afternoon.
Garcia’s neighborhood, located near the Bexar and Atascosa County lines, was in the path of a destructive grass fire, which the Texas A&M Forest Service labeled the “Duke Fire” due to its proximity to Duke Road.
A relative had a cell phone camera rolling as Garcia and her family drove down their street.
Garcia, who feared the worst, could be heard off-camera saying, “It’s not gonna (sic) be good,” as she closed in on her property.
Thanks to the actions of her family members and neighbors, though, the property was spared.
“Garden hoses. We had shovels, buckets of water,” Garcia said, explaining the tools they used to beat back the flames. “If nobody would’ve gotten here in time, the house would’ve been gone. Everything we own would’ve been gone. This is all we have.”
On Wednesday morning, Garcia showed how the flames came within a few feet of the back door of her grandmother’s home.
Several members of Garcia’s family live in homes on the same plot of land.
While their property made it through relatively unscathed, Garcia said she saw one neighbor’s home burn to the ground.
“To see everything that people worked so hard for, and their whole life, just completely gone,” Garcia said. “That was horrible, just watching it go up in flames. And there was no more house there.”
Unfortunately, the same scenario played out throughout the neighborhood, possibly dozens of times.
One statement issued to reporters on Tuesday night said as many as 37 structures had burned in the fire.
On Wednesday morning, though, fire investigators said they did not have an exact count on the structures burned. They were still adding up the damage.
Three firefighters were also hurt while fighting the fire, according to the Atascosa County Fire Marshal.
Ronald Sanches told KSAT that two of the firefighters were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and then released.
As of Wednesday morning, Sanches said the third firefighter, who suffered smoke inhalation, was still in the hospital.
At the height of the fire, crews from Bexar County and Atascosa County were stretched thin.
As of 5:26 p.m. Wednesday, the Bexar County-Atascosa County fire — also known as the “Duke Fire” — is 100% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, but Bexar County officials said first responders are still working on hot spots at the scene.
According to Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, approximately 100 firefighters all worked to battle the grass fire at one time.
Clay-Flores was part of a coalition of elected leaders who toured the area and assessed damage on Wednesday morning. Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and Atascosa County Commissioner Mark Gillespie were also on hand.
The group promised to help those whose homes were affected by the fire and warned others to take steps to prevent this kind of damage from happening again.
Garcia said she plans to do what she can to ensure her family stays safe.
“To make sure I’m going to be able to sleep and the kids are going to be OK, and I’m not having to pack the car up in the middle of the night,” Garcia said.