Sunday fires caused by arson, chief says
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VACANT BUILDING ON ASH STREET LOOTED FOR WIRING; BLAZES SET INSIDE AND AT REAR
Pearsall firefighters enter a former nursing home and motel on Ash Street where arson was set on Sunday, July 16.
Two fires that burned portions of an abandoned nursing home and former hotel on Ash Street in Pearsall on Sunday, July 16, are being investigated as arson, according to responders.
Pearsall Volunteer Fire Chief Placido Aguilar confirmed this week that the Sunday afternoon blaze was intentionally set by one or more trespassers in the building who may have been trying to loot wiring.
“Oh yeah, it was arson,” Aguilar said.
According to records filed at the sheriff’s office, a witness called 911 around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday to report smoke coming from the vacant building.
Within minutes, volunteer firefighters and Pearsall police were on scene and discovered that fires had been set outside a back door and inside the building.
Firefighters were able to extinguish both fires before flames caused significant damage.
Aguilar said he believes abandoned buildings are often deteriorated with age and weather. making them more susceptible to fire damage.
“Our main concern is that the city needs to do something about these buildings,” the fire chief said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “A building that size and in this heat really puts our firefighters at risk.”
The onetime nursing home was converted to hotel use during the energy industry boom over the Eagle Ford Shale but closed more than four years ago.
An arsonist set fire to furniture in the former hotel lobby on August 25, 2021. The three-alarm fire caused extensive damage to the vacant building.
The fire chief is asking that anyone in the community with information on the Sunday afternoon fire call the Pearsall Police Department at (830) 334-4169.
Pearsall police did not return a call for comment on the investigation.
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