None Hurt in Fire

Firefighters stopped a fire at the Civic Plaza apartments, 10944 San Pablo Ave.

A fire that started on the ground floor of the Civic Plaza apartment complex near City Hall spread quickly through an apartment and up to the next floor, but firefighters stopped the blaze quickly.

There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians, and almost all pets escaped without injury. However, all the residents of the 600 and 700 buildings were evacuated until it could be determined that their homes were habitable.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Battalion Chief Chase Beckman said a call from dispatch to El Cerrito and Richmond firefighters came through at 12:10 p.m. Firefighters stopped the spread of the fire at 12:56 p.m., he said.

They extended and climbed an aerial ladder to the building’s roof, where they created “vertical ventilation” by making a hole to let the heat and smoke out. And they cut a large diameter hole between the 600 and the 700 buildings to make sure the fire could not spread through a common attic.

They evacuated both buildings and conducted searches of every apartment. They checked for hot spots and opened ceilings, then started salvage and overhaul. Before leaving they will board up or otherwise secure all doors and windows, Beckman said.

Firefighters check the apartment where the fire started.

Beckman said the Red Cross will provide help to people who need it.

John Preciado said the fire started in the apartment where he has lived with his family for about 20 years. He said his mother was lying down when a neighbor knocked on her door and told her there was a fire.

Preciado wasn’t home. He was heading back with groceries from Lucky’s at 12:11 p.m. when he got a call from his mother saying their home was on fire.

His mother’s first reaction was to search for the family’s cat and three turtles and get them out safely. Then, Preciado said, she tried to pick up a storage box but it was so hot it burned her hand. She left the apartment.

Meanwhile, Preciado was anxiously driving home.

“When I got here I ran in,” he said.” “There was a neighbor helping Mom with a fire extinguisher. I grabbed that one and when that one ran out I got another one. But I started coughing and my eyes started running. When I ran out the police department was here and the fire department was here a couple of seconds later.”

Two hours after the fire started, Preciado said his groceries were still in the car. His cat was safe.

Looking toward his blackened apartment, he said, “It’s all material things. Luckily no one was majorly hurt.”

A resident holds his cat.

Alex Dru, who lives in a nearby building, said she heard a fire alarm go off, which wasn’t unusual. But it just kept going off, hurting her dog’s ears.

Dru drove the dog and her two boys to their grandmother’s house, which is nearby.

“Luckily nobody was hurt and nobody was stuck,” she said. “I think even the pets got out except I heard there was a guinea pig on the third floor that didn’t make it.”

By midafternoon on Sunday, evacuated resident Anand Marimuthu was loading luggage for himself and his family into the car. His friend in Fremont had invited him to stay until their apartment is declared habitable again.

“School is on holidays and we hope it will only be for a few days,” he said.