More than 30 residents get displaced after apartment fire
OAKLAND >> More than 30 residents were displaced after a two-alarm fire Tuesday night at an East Oakland apartment complex, officials said.
No injuries were reported.
Officials said the fire started about 11:50 p.m. Tuesday, possibly in a breezeway, at a two- story apartment building that is part of a large complex in the 300 block of 105th Avenue.
When firefighters got on the scene, some units were already fully involved in flames and a second-alarm was called, Battalion Fire Chief Tracey Chin said.
The residents of the burning structure got out on their own; Chin credited another resident with alerting many of them to the fire.
Chin said the efforts of firefighters were hampered because a hydrant just outside the complex was blocked by parked cars, forcing firefighters to access
another hydrant some 800 feet away so they could run a hose from it to a water pumper engine.
It took 39 firefighters until about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to bring the fire under control. At least nine apartments in the building suffered some kind of damage.
Of the 32 residents displaced, one family moved temporarily to a vacant unit in another part of the complex, some were staying
with family or friends and the property management company was providing hotel accommodations for the others, officials said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Chin said some of the burned apartments would need extensive repairs, and she estimated the total damage amount to be at least $400,000.