Residents clean up apartments after fire
Red Cross help displaced with accommodations as they await news of whether they can return home
One cat died, another is missing and 20 residents were displaced late Wednesday night by a Eureka apartment fire deemed by Humboldt Bay Fire to be from incense left burning. The fire was contained to the unit where it started by firefighting crews at 4th and L streets in Eureka.
A Humboldt Bay Fire news release said the fire was controlled within 20 minutes, and human injuries were limited to smoke inhalation, with residents refusing treatment.
“Quick actions by arriving crews prevented the fire from spreading to additional apartments, rescue the trapped victims, and ensure all occupants were safely out of the building and accounted for,” the release said.
Firefighters arrived at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday night. Around noon on Thursday, residents were returning to their apartments and appraising the damage. They'd been at the fire station, staying at hotels provided by the Red Cross and waiting for utilities to be checked out so they could see the fate of their homes. While some units were OK, the apartment where the fire started was completely torched. A cat tree in the apartment stood charred — in the fire a cat named Rusty died.
“I liked that cat so much,” said David York, who lives diagonally across the hall from the source apartment. York was waiting for the go-ahead from the onsite manager to check out his place, and found the damage to his apartment seemed to be restricted to the outside of his door, caked in smoke like the hallway. He figures he can now return home after a long night walking around drinking coffee. Red Cross arrived in the early morning hours and distributed debit cards for residents to stay in a hotel for a few nights.
Another upstairs resident said his apartment was salvageable; the damage in his apartment was limited to water. He figures he can clean up. But not all of the units are fit to return.
The Humboldt Bay Fire release said 12 apartments were deemed uninhabitable from fire smoke and water damage, with damage estimated at $500,000. The apartment where it started is destroyed, the resident lost everything, and other apartments were caked in smoke or sprayed with water to prevent the spread.
Some residents on the floor were trapped in their apartments during the fire. Next door to York, a resident in a second-floor window had to be rescued through the window. Firefighting involved crews knocking down the fire apartment window from the exterior and making entry, according to the HBF release. Crews located three additional victims who were sheltering in place inside their apartments on the second floor. Doors were knocked down both by firefighters and York said a civilian volunteer who lived in another building part of the complex knocked down the door to try and save the cat.
York recalled a fire alarm in the hallway went off but later stopped — “everybody thought it was nothing,” he said. Black smoke eventually started billowing through the gap of his door late Wednesday night.
Humboldt Bay Fire reminded residents to soak any aroma materials in water before discarding them and to ensure working smoke alarms in all bedrooms and hallways.
Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.