2 more bodies found after apartment fire
Death toll now at five; no confirmation that they are the five missing residents. San Marcos complex, not updated since being built in 1970, had no sprinklers.
Authorities combSAN MARCOS — ing the ruins of a San Marcos apartment complex after a deadly fire last week found two more bodies Monday, raising the death toll to five. Fire officials said the residences did not have sprinkler systems in place, and they did not know when the buildings were last inspected.
The buildings at the Iconic Village and Vintage Pads apartments had not been updated since 1970, when they were built, San Marcos Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner told reporters at a news conference Monday. He said investigators have not determined what caused the fire or where it started. The number of working smoke detectors inside the apartments also was unknown, he said.
“There are no sprinklers in the building, and the reason for that is because this building was built in 1970. And it was in 1968 that the city of San Marcos adopted the 1960 Southern Building Code,
and it was not a requirement of the Southern Building Code at that time to have sprinklers,” Kistner said. “There’s been no major remodel that we’re aware of
that would require them to have brought sprinklers up to date or into the building.”
Crews responded at 4:27 a.m. Friday to a fire that was already burning at least three buildings when firefighters arrived, Kistner said.
Residents told the American-Statesman no alarms went off to alert them to the blaze. They said they woke when neighbors started knocking on doors
about 4:30 a.m.
Five bodies have been recovered from what’s left of Iconic Village’s building 500, on the southwest end of the complex, and have been taken to the Travis County medical examiner’s office.
One person remains hospitalized at San Antonio Military Medical Center, city officials said
“As a community, our hearts are broken,” San Marcos Mayor John Thomaides said. “We’ve lost so much. We’ve lost the love, energy, optimism and potential of these young souls.”
Five residents — Haley Frizzell, James Miranda, David Ortiz, Dru Estes and Belinda Moats — were unaccounted for, but authorities would not confirm whether any of them were among the dead. Texas State University officials also declined to comment on the incident or confirm whether any of the missing are students.
Although authorities have not confirmed who died in the fire, friends and relatives of at least three resi- dents have posted publicly on social media about their loss.
Brittny Broussard posted Sunday on Facebook about her brother Dru Estes, who she said is one of the fire victims.
“Heaven gained one amaz- ing person,” Broussard said. “I cannot begin to under- stand why God made this his time and why we only had a short time with him, but I will sit here and thank God for the time I did have with him and that I was his big sister!”
Friends of Haley Frizzell have posted about her on Facebook as well.
“We did so much. We had so many plans. We never finished all the things we said we’d do,” Caesar Philipe Martinez said in a tribute to Frizzell. “You are my lon- gest friendship. I don’t know what to do without you.”
San Angelo Live also reported that Frizzell was among the fire victims.
Investigators have said no one perished in building L in the Vintage Pads area.
The Vintage Pads building has a white brick facade and orange doors. Iconic Village buildings are styled
like a motel and have turquoise accents and central courtyards. Building 300 is a smaller structure toward the back of the complex behind building 500. It also was heav- ily damaged by the fire, Kist- ner said.
The complex’s community garden in building 500’s courtyard was destroyed, and the pool was damaged by the blaze, Kistner said. Investi- gators are still looking into other buildings within the complex and could be on the site through at least Friday.
The nearly 200 residents displaced by the fire can visit a resource center set up at the San Marcos Activity Center, 501 E. Hopkins St., from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
The university has created a relief fund for students displaced by the fire. As of 3 p.m. Monday, more than $20,000 had been raised. Those looking to contrib- ute can do so on the Blanco River Regional Recovery Team website by using the word “iconic” when donat
ing online. The Iconic Village and Vintage Pads apartments are
known for their close-knit community and proximity to the Texas State campus. Sitting a half-mile up a hill,
the complex allows students a short walk to class, and they can stop at a number of San Marcos mainstays, including Grins Restaurant, Treff ’s Tavern, and Mochas and Javas coffee shop.
Many of Austin’s older off-campus apartments at the University of Texas also do not have sprinkler systems, said Jimmy Johnson, the assistant vice president for campus safety.
“All have smoke detectors and alarms, just not sprinklers at this time,” Johnson said. They were built before adoption of the fire code that the dorms abide by, he said.
As renovations take place, the buildings will be brought up to the current fire code, but there are “no major reno-
vations at this time for those locations,” he said. Johnson said the apartments are independent entities but meet local and state requirements.
Based on size and configuration, residence hall dorm rooms typically have one to two sprinklers and one smoke alarm, Johnson said. “Some of the buildings on campus are 100 years old, and some are 1 or 2 months old.”
Over the past two decades, the university has spent more than $100 million on fire safety and retrofitting its aging infrastructure. The university inspects fire alarms and smoke detectors every two months, he said, and the last major inspection of the residence halls took place in June.
“Fire life safety is a priority for us on campus, and we certainly don’t take that lightly,” he said.
‘As a community, our hearts are broken. We’ve lost so much. We’ve lost the love, energy, optimism and potential of these young souls.’ John Thomaides Mayor of San Marcos