By John Asbury
The Press Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — More than 125 people awoke early Sunday to flames ripping through their San Bernardino apartment complex from a five-alarm blaze that damaged more than two dozen units.
Two neighbors at the complex rushed to the burning building before daylight, pounding on doors and breaking windows with flashlights to rouse the tenants and rush them to safety.
The five-alarm blaze left 30 families homeless and damaged 26 apartments.
By Sunday afternoon, the evacuated families and a crowd of neighbors filled the courtyard of the Garden Breeze Apartments complex off Mt. Vernon Avenue and Mill Street, standing behind crime tape and watching over the charred shell of their homes.
“It feels like a nightmare. We don’t have anything,” said Erika Cano, 30, who is nine months’ pregnant and was not home during the fire. “My baby’s coming in days and we have no place to live. We have no food, clothing, nothing. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”
San Bernardino firefighters were called to the apartment complex at 4:48 a.m. and saw a column of smoke rising as they arrived, San Bernardino Battalion Chief Eric Esquivel said.
At first, crews were unable to access the complex, which was blocked by a locked gate.
Firefighters said the blaze originated in a lower corner unit of a U-shaped two-story building, which sits between two other detached apartment buildings. Flames quickly spread to the upper apartments and then through a shared attic throughout the building’s roof. In all, 26 of the 30 apartments were damaged, but the entire building was evacuated.
Before firefighters arrived, Eric Renteria, 31, said he went outside to smoke a cigarette when he saw smoke and flames begin to pour from the apartment roof. He said he pounded on doors and windows as another man tried to douse flames with a fire extinguisher.
“There was nothing but heat and glass. I shouted to get everyone out,” Renteria said. “I was trying to do whatever I could. It was instinct. What would you do? It could have been anyone of us.”
Grace Saulcido, 62, awoke to glass shattering and heard pounding on her door by the men.
“They’re like heroes,” Cano said. “If not for them, a lot of people should be dead by now.”
As the fire spread, firefighters raised the level to a five-alarm call, prompting the arrival of more than 80 firefighters. It took about 2 1/2 hours to douse the flames. The fire did not spread to the two adjacent apartment buildings.
Seven people were treated at the scene for minor injuries in the fire, but no one was hospitalized, Esquivel said.
“Given the time of the fire in the high-density unit, it’s really miraculous that no one was seriously injured,” Esquivel said.
The city of San Bernardino and the American Red Cross established an evacuation center at Richardson Middle School, where about 125 people had registered, but only about a dozen waited Sunday afternoon on cots and in the school courtyard.
Fire officials did not have an estimate of the damage. The cause of the fire has not been determined. Many residents and the apartment management said they believed the fire may have been started by an electrical short from a water heater.
Residents said several of the apartments were in disrepair and often lacked heat or hot water. Residents also reported roach and rat infestations, as well as other repairs that had been ignored.
Rita Howlingcrane, 73, said she was using her stovetop burners to heat her apartment.
An apartment manager, Mercedes McGee, denied that any repairs were being neglected. She said she had been working with the Fire Department and code enforcement before the fire to establish an evacuation plan. She said the apartment complex was recently inspected by the city and no issues were found.
The apartment management company was working to relocate all of the displaced residents to available apartments at the company’s other properties in San Bernardino and Fontana, McGee said.
“We’re going to make sure no one is left behind and each of these families has somewhere to go,” McGee said.
Copyright 2011 The Press Enterprise, Inc.
All Rights Reserved