By Aaron Kinney
Inside Bay Area (California)
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All Rights Reserved
SAN MATEO, Calif. — A fire that destroyed three apartments on La Selva Street and damaged four others was caused by a grease fire, a San Mateo fire official said Thursday.
An untended pan filled with lard or cooking oil ignited in the first-floor kitchen of a two-story apartment Wednesday afternoon, said Deputy Fire Chief Dan Belville. The fire spread to the second floor before engulfing two other apartments in the seven-unit building.
Two brothers who were asleep on the second floor were awakened by a smoke alarm, which may have saved their lives, Belville said. The men, both in their 20s, escaped the building through a second-floor balcony.
The building that was damaged by the fire is located at 3309 La Selva St. and is part of the Bay Terrace apartment complex, a group of 22 buildings next to the sound wall bordering Highway 101.
The three-alarm fire, first reported at 3:14 p.m., did at least $1 million in damage to the C-shaped building. The four apartments that weren’t engulfed in flames suffered extensive water and smoke damage, said Belville.
Nine of the 33 people who lost their homes lived in the apartment where the fire started and three people who were missing Wednesday evening have been accounted for, according to the Fire Department. The Red Cross helped the families find temporary lodging.
There was just one injury reported in the fire. One of the brothers cut his arm while breaking a glass pane to reach a fire extinguisher, Belville said. He was treated at a local hospital.
Belville said all the apartments will require extensive repairs before they are habitable again. The owner of the building may choose instead to knock it down and rebuild, he said.