Harry Harris
East Bay Times
OAKLAND, Calif. — A firefighter was injured, four people were rescued and 16 residents displaced in a two-alarm fire Thursday morning in the Fruitvale district in East Oakland, officials said.
The firefighter suffered second-degree hands burns.
The fire was reported about 3:51 a.m. Thursday at a vacant house in the 2100 block of 34th Avenue near Foothill Boulevard.
Officials said the house appeared to be under renovation.
Within minutes after the first firefighters arrived on scene, a second alarm was called because houses on each side were starting to get a small amount of fire, Battalion Fire Chief Demond Simmons said.
Firefighters had to rescue a total of four people from those two homes, Simmons said. Other residents in the two houses were able to get out on their own.
More than 36 firefighters responded to the scene and the fire was declared under control at 4:30 a.m.
Sixteen residents of the houses that suffered the exposure damage were displaced, officials said.
Simmons said the cause of the fire is under investigation. He said the vacant house suffered “tremendous” damage and the estimated damage to all three houses was at least $700,000.
During the fire a cable line came down. PG&E also responded to the scene to cut power in the area so that firefighters would not be endangered while they battled the blaze, leaving a few dozen customers without power for a time.
———
©2020 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)