A sign posted on site calls Besame a dangerous structure after a fire early Thursday.
SAN ANTONIO — Until 4:30am Thursday, Besame was a popular hangout and food truck park on East Grayson just east of the Pearl.
Now, after a powerful fire swept through the 115-year-old home turned play place, the City of San Antonio has posted a red warning placard in the driveway, calling the place a distressed property that is a potential candidate for demolition.
This after CPS Energy invested more than 24 hours digging up natural gas supply lines damaged during the blaze.
Just a few minutes after the first firefighters arrived on scene, their radio transmissions advised a ruptured gas line was feeding the fire on the front porch of the building.
They were able to bring the fire in the 992-square-foot building under control quickly, but the front portion of the 1910 structure is deeply charred and parts of the metal roof have buckled.
The fire department has yet to rule on a cause for the fire, which happened while the business was closed.
CPS Energy sent a statement that read simply, “We can confirm no personnel were injured and we’re currently investigating the cause.”
Calls to several people involved in the operation went unreturned Friday, so it’s unknown what the recovery plan is.
Property records indicate the parcel is owned by OT Partners LLC, based in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Although investigators haven’t ruled on a cause for this blaze, just one month ago, a family burned out of their east-side home won a $60-million-dollar judgement against CPS Energy for what a jury decided was a gas leak that caused an explosion.
The blast and fire happened in May 2021, on Walters Street.
The lawsuit established that two people in the home suffered injuries in the blast.
At the time, CPS Energy issued a statement that read: “We continue to dispute liability and are evaluating our next steps.”
The lead attorney in that case says everyone needs to be vigilant about the state of aging gas lines.
“What we determined in that case is that the system that’s in place for the gas company is basically if you smell gas as a gas customer, call us and we’ll come out,” Mike Lyons said, adding “The problem with that is, what happens if you have children at home that don’t know? Or in the case of my clients, what happens if your customer is intellectually disabled and may not understand what the ramifications are for having a gas leak.”
Lyons said some people may not have the ability to detect the odorant added to the gas to warn of danger.
“Older people who may not have a sensitive sense of smell, people that have had COVID, people who smoke, people that have respiratory disorders, people who are sick, those people may not smell the mercaptan, which is the treatment that they put in natural gas so that you can smell it,” Lyons said.
Lyons said utility operators are required by law to monitor and report on the state of their systems.
“That includes the age of the gas system. That includes any leaks within their gas system and includes things called unaccounted for gas, which means gas that’s left the system that hasn’t been discharged deliberately,” Lyons said, adding their research indicates there are more than 1,500 miles of pipeline in the local delivery system that are more than 50 years old.
Lyons went on to say the information must be shared with the Texas Railroad Commission.
“They are required from a regulatory standpoint to do what’s called a 5-year survey. Every five years, the gas company hires independent contractors who come out and walk the mains and walk the service lines with combustible gas indicators,” Lyons said adding “But there is no other monitoring that’s being performed concerning your service tap outside your house or your meter setup.”
CPS Energy does maintain a webpage with information to educate users about safety tips.
They also anyone who believes there may be a problem with gas service that could be dangerous to call 210-353-HELP.