By Joe Wolfcale
Marin Independent Journal (California)
Copyright 2007 Marin Independent Journal, a MediaNews Group publication
All Rights Reserved
MARIN, Calif. -- Three residents were plucked from their burning San Rafael apartments Wednesday in a dramatic rescue during a two-alarm blaze in which two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
San Rafael police Cpl. Rick Clary, assisted by neighbors, used a ladder to rescue a brother and sister from an upstairs rear apartment, and got another man out of a bottom unit at 8 Elaine Way in the Canal area, authorities and witnesses said.
The fire, reported at 3:29 p.m., destroyed a two-bedroom upstairs unit and damaged three others in the modest fourplex. Two vehicles in the downstairs carport were damaged.
San Rafael Battalion Chief Jim Lydon said two firefighters suffered minor burns when hot tar from the roof dripped on them during the blaze. They were treated at the scene.
Lydon said the cause of the fire is under investigation. He had no dollar estimate of the damage.
Diane Benjamin, who lived in the burned-out unit, was en route to pick up her 40-year-old daughter Felicia, who has Down syndrome, when the bus driver carrying her daughter alerted her that her apartment building was on fire.
“She was so hysterical afterwards because she was worried about all her books,” Benjamin said of her daughter. “I picked her up around the corner. We’re just in the process of moving out.”
Benjamin had arranged to rent a 3-bedroom apartment in Marin City and has been boxing and moving her belongings.
Benjamin said her cat, Madison, hasn’t been found yet. Smokey, a cat belonging to other tenants, also is missing.
Patrick Jones, 19, a volunteer firefighter with San Rafael who lives nearby, was one of the first on the scene.
“I ran down the street because I saw heavy smoke,” said Jones, a student at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Kelly and Darrell Waters have lived in the rear upstairs three-bedroom unit for three years.
Her brother, Darrell, was sleeping when Kelly heard footsteps on the stairwell and people screaming to get out. She looked outside. “I heard glass breaking and all I could see was smoke,” Kelly Waters said. “It was pretty scary.”
More than 30 firefighters responded as onlookers clustered around the area. Marinwood and Kentfield firefighters assisted.
“It was well-involved by the time we got here,” Lydon said.
Lydon said the fire was brought under control in about 10 minutes. Police kept the street blocked off to traffic for several hours.