San Mateo County fire causes more than $250K of damage to apartment
Menlo Park Fire logo coutresy of Twitter account @menlofire on Sept. 24, 2017.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (BCN) - A fire Friday evening in the unincorporated area of North Fair Oaks in Redwood City caused more than $250,000 of damage and displaced 10 people, fire officials said.
At 5:41 p.m. dispatchers started receiving calls about smoke coming from a second floor unit of a three-story, 22-unit apartment building located at 348 Fourth Ave.
Fire officials said that units en route got a message that potentially children were trapped inside the building.
When Menlo Park Fire District Engine 3 got to the scene, the acting captain reported seeing heavy fire and smoke coming from the windows of a second-floor unit.
Fire officials said crews attacked the fire aggressively and had it under control at 5:55 p.m.
But the fire, smoke and water used to extinguish the blaze destroyed nearly everything in the 1,000 square foot unit that was on fire.
The fire damaged three apartments in all. No one was injured.
The cause of the fire was related to a malfunctioning freezer in the kitchen. Damage to the apartment was in excess of $200,000 and damage to the apartment's contents was at least $50,000.
In a statement, Battalion Chief Tom Calvert said, "The crews made a good stop on the fire. It was blowing out of a second-floor window in the front of the building when we got here and there were reports of people trapped somewhere inside the complex."
"I put two crews on fire attack and others above the fire on the third floor to find anyone trapped. We quickly checked all 22 units and determined that everyone had gotten out safely and about that time they radioed me that the fire was under control. So it all went our way today, which doesn't always happen."