By Roman Gokhman
Contra Costa Times
PITTSBURG, Calif. — A three-alarm fire heavily damaged six units of a Pittsburg apartment complex Tuesday evening, fire officials said.
The blaze broke out at 7:34 p.m. in the Los Prados apartments at 2241 E. Leland Road, a Contra Costa Fire District spokesman said. The complex is located across the street from Los Medanos College.
The first crews to arrive found heavy smoke and flames reaching out of a first and second story apartment, fire Battalion Chief Kevin Nieland said. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to one building and brought it under control at 8:42 p.m.
Six units were damaged four from the fire and two others from smoke and water, Nieland said. Two units sustained heavy damage, he said.
No one was injured, Nieland said. No estimate for the damage had yet been determined.
The fire was discovered by a resident who returned home to find his apartment completely filled with smoke, Nieland said. He used his phone to call 911. The fire’s cause was unclear, but it was believed to have started in one of the corner units in the building.
A nearby building was spared damage because of a firewall that separates one from the other, keeping heat and flames out, Nieland said.
As firefighters mopped up around the blackened ruins inside the cream-colored complex Tuesday night, stunned residents like Jackie Jackson tried to make sense of what had happened. Some said they had no warning of the fire until they stepped outside and saw flames and smoke.
Jackson was at work when she got a call about the blaze from her mother, who was watching her child.
“I was scared the way she described it,” Jackson said. “It was right behind my house. The flames were reaching everywhere.”
John Wilson was less fortunate; his apartment was one of those damaged in the fire.
He watched from a few dozen feet away as smoke billowed from the roof of his unit and water was poured on top of it. He said a neighbor warned him about the fire and he was able to step outside and walk to safety before his apartment caught fire.
Burt Henderling said he, too, was warned of the danger by the resident of the unit where the blaze started. He and his neighbor ran outside and yelled for help.
“We banged on all the doors, telling the neighbors,” he said.
Henderling said he did not want to leave his apartment because he feared for his three cats inside, but police forced him to safety.
Nieland later said two cats were seen jumping out of Henderling’s apartment, but the fate of the third was uncertain. Firefighters rescued a cat from another unit.
The Red Cross has been called in, Nieland said, but the fire department is not yet sure whether anyone will require their assistance.
“I’m just glad no one was hurt,” neighbor Mike Feagin said.
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